Valentin Popov

Valentin Popov

Valentin Popov (b. Kiev, Ukraine, 1956) is a classically trained, internationally exhibited artist whose work bridges the profound traditions of fine art with a vibrant and provocative contemporary vision.

Educated at the Kiev State School of Art and the Academy of Fine Art of Ukraine, he began his career steeped in the European academic painting tradition before emigrating to the United States in the late 1980s. There, he embraced the expressive possibilities of Western modernism and pop culture, forging a singular artistic voice that defies easy categorization.

Popov works fluently across media from oil painting and printmaking to collage, sculpture, and installation and is known for his technical mastery and creative versatility. His body of work includes striking portraiture, richly textured urban and landscape scenes inspired by his own photography, and imaginative mixed-media compositions that play on juxtaposition, irony, and myth.

Based in California for much of his career, Popov has exhibited widely in the United States, Europe, and beyond. His work resides in numerous public and museum collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY), Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and the National Museum of Ukrainian Art — and he was elected a member of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, the first American to receive that honor.

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New Paintings

2/23 - 3/13/2026

at HOHMANN, Palm Desert

This exhibition presents a selection of new paintings that continue Popov’s long-standing exploration of material, atmosphere, and emotional resonance. Rooted in a disciplined studio practice and a deep respect for the history of painting, his work resists trends in favor of substance and permanence. Together, these new works offer a compelling view into an artist whose career has been shaped by consistency, conviction, and an unwavering commitment to the language of painting.

Valentin Popov is an internationally recognized painter whose work is distinguished by its depth, precision, and sustained engagement with the tradition of painting. Born in Ukraine, Popov is a second-generation artist and was elected to the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, following in the footsteps of his father. His paintings are held in more than twenty public collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Crocker Art Museum, and have been exhibited extensively across Europe, Asia, and the United States.

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Biography

Valentin Popov was born in Kiev, Ukraine, in 1956, during the height of the Cold War. He received a rigorous classical education and began to establish a promising career in the fine arts. However, as a Soviet citizen, he grew increasingly constrained by state doctrine, which limited artistic expression to the officially sanctioned style of social realism—marked by propagandistic images of heroic factory workers, field laborers, and other well-worn tropes of post-revolutionary enthusiasm. After emigrating to the United States in the late 1980s, Popov rapidly absorbed the legacy of Western modernism and plunged into an intense period of diverse artistic production. A seasoned practitioner of pictorial, plastic, and performance media, Valentin Popov stands as a quintessential postmodernist, fusing classical and modernist traditions into a singular style that is poetic, technically dazzling, and subtly ironic.