Sergey Isakov’s illustrations create a “quiet tension” between clean constructivism and spontaneity

You might have come across Sergey Isakov’s illustrations if you’ve been reading The New York Times or The New Yorker lately. The illustrators’ textured geometric drawings have rolled out across their digital and physical pages with a playful and wondrous sense of movement to every scene.

Inviting us to lean in and explore every detail, Sergey’s compositions are more and more curious the closer we get. At a distance things might look like simple graphic assemblies, each blank space carefully filled and considered, but at closer inspection there is a “quiet tension between structure and spontaneity”. Although bold shapes seem to dominate, the more subtle hero of his illustrative work is the layers of textures and detail that make them feel akin to analogue prints.

“My work often delves into themes of solitude, movement, time, and imagination”, the illustrator says, “I draw inspiration from printmaking artists and the structured aesthetics of Constructivist designers, as well as the beauty found in everyday life.” Both playful and contemplative the illustrators scenes often deliberately toy with scale: a small rider sits atop a giant bull, an apple is half the size of a human and caramelised cabbages fry at the size of orbiting planets: “I’m particularly drawn to this intriguing space”, he says, “where the familiar meets the surreal.”