What happens when semiotic experimentation, psychedelia, and storytelling meet? This seemed to be the question that underpinned the very peculiar practice of a collective called Inspection Medical Hermeneutics, founded in Moscow in 1987 by three young artists—Sergei Anufriev (*1964), Yuri Leiderman (*1963), and Pavel Pepperstein (*1966). Of the three, Pepperstein is the one who remained closest to the ideals of the group, which he further developed on two main fronts: as a fiction writer and as a visual artist. In his vast body of work, the artist has explored the possibilities of combining linguistics, outlandish experiments, popular narratives, and science fiction in a way that seems to be immune to the ideals and expressive forms of post-perestroika. In fact, Pepperstein often combines traditional formats, such as storytelling and figurative drawing, and in doing so he assumes a radical position: that of changing by not changing at all. Such is the case of Pepperstein’s exhibition of twenty watercolors from 2012, some of which bring back figures that have previously emerged in the artist’s drawings, characterized by a unique combination of political, cultural, and folk references. Also in the show are drawings that evoke similar atmospheres; familiar characters are represented in different situations …