Between September 16th and 30th, residents of Kharkiv will be treated to an exhibition of acclaimed Ukrainian artist Mykhailo Popov, whose artwork will be displayed in Yermilov Center.
Mykhailo Popov is a native of the Kharkiv region. His works have gained recognition in Canada, the Czech Republic, Latvia, and the USA, amongst others. Thus, alongside world-renowned contemporary Ivan Marchuk, he is one of the few modern Ukrainian artists appreciated globally.
Popov was born in 1946 and graduated from the Kharkiv Art and Industry Institute, where he learned painting from masters such as Ye. Bykov, N. Verhun, and A. Konstantynoposkyi. The artistic style of Popov might be best described as either expressionism or symbolism, with strong overtones of romanticist leaning towards mythology and folklore. Using acrylic, oil, and watercolor paints, he blends his memories of a rustic Slobozhanschyna childhood with folk motives, disclosing both depths of private experience and the mystique of the Ukrainian soul. Some critics like to compare his works to a rendition of Lesia Ukrainka’s ‘Forest Song’ in spirit, if not in exact plot, as they infuse old-fashioned and even archaic Ukrainian lifestyle sketches with a magic that hearkens back to the times when man and nature were one, where beasts spoke, and a wry, squint-eyed Ukrainian humor made light of what might otherwise seem a touch too romantic.
Don’t miss Mykhailo Popov at Yermilov Center.
