The following is an excerpt from conversations between artist Valentin Popov and Darlene D. DeAngelo, Curator of Exhibitions/Programs at the Huntington Beach Art Center.
Darlene: Let's start with how and why you emigrated to the United States from Russia.
Valentin: I never set out to emigrate to the United States. I was on a visit for two weeks with friends at Stanford University about nine years ago. I had only one set of transparencies with me (of my etchings) and when we went driving in San Francisco I saw a gallery and I walked in and asked them to look at my work – OOPS!
Darlene: OOPS!
Valentin: (Laughing) I had no idea how the business of galleries and museums worked here (U.S.) and neither did my friends. I went into the Museum of Modern Art and asked if I could show my work to a curator. I was told that he was out of town for a few days, but I could leave the transparencies if I wanted. Since I was leaving to return to Russia in five days, I said yes, but only if I could come back to retrieve them. The curator, John Caldwell, called me in two days and said, 'I like your work, do you want to see me?' I said sure. The next day I arrived at his office and he gave me an urgent message that said to call home (home being my friends). They told me not to make any plans because the next day they had scheduled an appointment for me with the program director at Djerrassi.
Darlene: Djerrassi Artist-in-Residence program?
Valentin: Yes. Apparently my friends left the director 100's of messages. They called her every half-hour until she said she would see my work.
Darlene: What happened with John (Caldwell)?
Valentin: He really liked the work and set up appointments for me at two galleries. The first one, Olga Dollar Gallery, gave me a one-person show. The next day I went to Djerrassi to meet with the Program Director. She was looking at my slides and was very quiet. I mean silence. Then she looked at me and said, 'Can I buy this one?' I said 'Sure.'
Darlene: When did you return to the States?
Valentin: About six months later for my solo show.
Darlene: When did you decide to stay for good?
Valentin: I had a good life in Russia but there are no galleries, only state subsidized museums and art spaces. If you are a good artist, they purchase your work and help pay your living expenses. But going back and forth was difficult.
Darlene: Johnson wrote in his essay that the state thought they had their hooks into you. They subsidized your education!
Valentin: Well, everything in Russia is subsidized by government so it's very competitive. If you're very good, if you're accepted, then it costs you nothing.
Darlene: It costs you nothing to attend?
Valentin: It's free education.
Darlene: What about to actually exhibit your work. If there is no gallery system what do you do?
Valentin: You show the work and then they buy some work for the museums.
Darlene: So they actually purchase the work for the shows?
Valentin: Yes, and then you do some illustration for the publishers and some commissions. It's a company-based work affiliation with the Association of Fine Art of the Ukraine. For example, you're doing portraits of famous scientists or famous poets and revolutionaries. You do lithography and they print about 500 editions to sell to different organizations. So you get this commission. You're doing work and then you're getting quite good money for it. That's how the association of fine art was supporting you. Everybody gets a particular amount of work to make sure you have enough money to live on. And the rest of it is up to you.
Darlene: So it sounds to me like you didn't just want enough money to live on and you wanted more people to see your work.
Valentin: No, neither of those. I was quite successful there in Russia and again I never imagined that I would want to emigrate. What happened was I was looking for new exposure and it was interesting to be in the United States. It was quite intriguing because, of course, the market is here. But when I got a taste of living in a free society I never really come back - it's not really my choice, you know literally two and a half years after my first visit I decided I will get a green card. Much later I decided I want to become an American, which happened a few months ago.
Darlene: How do your parents feel about that? Your father is extremely well-known in Russia.
Valentin: They are happy for me. Like most parents, they are happy because I am happy. I am different from anyone else in my family. I live in the states and they live in Russia. It's okay for them, I used to be different. It is the purpose of the artist to be different.
Darlene: How is it the purpose of the artist to be different?
Valentin: Usually artists never really blend into society, historically. Artist always stay a little bit outside.
Darlene: And yet what you wanted most was to be a part of this free society.
Valentin: No, it is not what I wanted but you don't know how it feels until you taste it. When you taste it you realize that you are addicted to it. Or you like it. When you hear these hypothetical words 'freedom, freedom' it doesn't mean anything to me. I know what is freedom but what it is to live with the freedom, to have experience of it and live in this country. And it's all. . . aware of something . . . There are still happy people in Russia. It's a choice we make in life. I made the choice to live very far away from my family on the other side of the planet.
Darlene: Do you come from a large family?
Valentin: I have a sister and a niece.
Darlene: Are you close with your family?
Valentin: Very, I speak to them every three days.
Darlene: Do they call you as often as you call them?
Valentin: No, I call them much more, it is much less expensive.
Darlene: What do your mother and father do in Russia?
Valentin: My father is still teaching, printmaking and lithography at the Academy of Fine Art and spending lots of time in his studio preparing for his big show in the State Museum for his 75th anniversary (birthday). I will be attending the event next month.
Darlene: Have they come here to visit you?
Valentin: Yes.
Darlene: What do they think of their son's new-found freedom and have they ever considered living with you?
Valentin: Not really, they are very set where they are. They have quite a good life. It could be difficult and traumatic for someone to change language and move - it's a difficult age for them to change. If I didn't make the decision to move when I was 33, now at age 46 I would really be questioning, 'do I really want to do it?'
Darlene: How did you get involved in art? Was it because of your father?
Valentin: Partially, I was living in a big association. A building owned by the association of fine art and all my friends started going to art school. You see your father making drawings you're doing drawingsÖI didn't want to in the beginning, but then some of my friends get involved and then I decided I want to go to art school. And then Bingo, things happened.
Darlene: Bingo! Now we're on to an American term or do they have Bingo in Russia?
Valentin: No. So, I actually started doing art when I was 12Öwhen I got serious about it I was 12. That's when I made the decision that I want to go to art school.
Darlene: Did you have to submit a portfolio to go to the school in Russia?
Valentin: Yes, much more than that. You must take an examination. Tests like painting of still life, drawing of still life, drawing of human face, your feeling of composition. They want to make sure you're at a certain level of technique plus they want to make sure that you are talented enough.
Darlene: Describe talented.
Valentin: Composition like, some people, they giving you task, for example, you have to make a landscape painting with a gouache or watercolor. Or a painting with a totally unexpected theme. Like building a house and you have to make a story when people are building the house. Some workers are making concrete and have to make it interesting with good color, composition, whatever.
Darlene: Often we hear in contemporary art that if it's not interesting to you it won't be interesting to anyone else. Is that what you're actually saying when you're talking about composition?
Valentin: Practically they are testing your skills and your level of competence. When you're accepted to school you already have to be quite well trained.
Darlene: So do you feel you received your training from your father?
Valentin: From my father and from my friends. My father was definitely helping in the system. But it's very highly competitive so if you do not match particular standards someone else will get the spot.
Darlene: So it's highly competitive. How many students try out?
Valentin: Ten.
Darlene: And they accept how many?
Valentin: One. It's one for every ten who apply. So if 200 take the examination only 20 are accepted. Everything is quite competitive for education. One criterion of your acceptances is how good you are.
Darlene: Let's talk more about the recent work. Tell me how your work has evolved since you've been in the United States.
Valentin: That's a very broad question
Darlene: Extremely broad. Primarily you were a printmaker when you arrived.
Valentin: Yeah, that's very true, but we're talking about the work that was done during my American period not just my most recent work. I started painting in my most recent work. I was inspired by California colors.
Darlene: How did you make the switch from being a printmaker to becoming a painter?
Valentin: It was not switch. It was more a gradual kind of moving with my etchings becoming bigger and bigger. I started using color, painting on the etchings. I love to do monotypes. However, I am thinking seriously about going back to etchings. I spent almost ten years of my life doing just etchings. I did enough breathing acid and turpentine that I decided it's about time to change to something else.
Darlene: And you're also doing photography. You're really incorporating several media.
Valentin: Sometimes. Well in the states I kind of discovered techniques and started making collages on handmade paper for a good number of years. I learned how to incorporate old engravings, fabric, coins, everything and old photographs. I buy old artifacts, sometimes in Russia or at the flea market in Paris. I buy different sorts of objects and images.
Darlene: To get into more depth about your work in particular, many contemporary artists will discount what has happened before. They may know of the work, such as the etchings of Rembrandt, but they really try to get away from it and try something new. What I find interesting about your work is that you use it as research and are very attracted to it. Why?
Valentin: It's very postmodern. I just believe I can create something new by combining a few different known things including history of art. For example, some characters with Hieronymus Bosch and Rembrandt or some engraving from France with French Kings. I incorporate these with totally modern acrylic splashes or my collage. I am combining known things in very unusual ways, playing with history of art in the world. I create a cocktail bringing attention to parts of history that people already know or possibly have forgotten about. I think its interesting and a very missionary thing. I bring to my work the classic beauty of artists which was famous for centuries and still attracts interest of people 500 years later.
Darlene: So it's not just about creating your own new contemporary pieces but its also paying homage to classic works.
Valentin: Yes. It is about creating my own pieces because I do like classic art. Part of my education was the study of classic art, studying Rembrandt. Then I was incorporating all my contemporary research with quotes from Rembrandt from his paintings and from some of his etchings. All together it's about creating my piece based sometimes on my experience and knowledge of historical art.
Darlene: Often you have words incorporated in sort of layered like terms on your paintings and on your etchings. Sometimes you can read them clearly but often they are muddied. Tell me why you like to incorporate words.
Valentin: I like phrases. I think phrases give people a direction, a feeling. I create totally beautiful environments and then I incorporate phrase so your mind goes from one to another. From looking at landscape and reading message, going back to enjoying the landscape and reading the message. It has two very parallel values. It's not just the message that is important or just the landscape that is important. Both are similarly important and together they create interesting combination. So sometimes message has a different reading when you see a particular visual part or when you read the message, the visual part has a new reading suddenly.
Like I painted the sky and then a little expression 'Be Kind'. First you see the sky and then you notice the words. Suddenly you realize it's a phrase. Hard to understand sometimes, maybe for purpose to be kind, sometime maybe you're going beyond the clouds, beyond something, or about something. Don't get involved in a cloud of activity - just be kind - just see through clouds to clear sky to the stars. It's this situation. And sometimes the paintings change completely - in most cases the image is very complementary to phrase one way or supports the phrase. Another painting was a steam train and has the message 'if you own a car the car owns you' which is completely opposite from what you see which has another kind of beauty. Make very very strong separate messages by how different the image and phrase are. Makes each more dramatic.
Darlene: So what you're really doing is creating a drama.
Valentin: Well, dramatic meaning very important. Most of the messages I am using are Buddhist parables. The purpose of using them in a painting is to keep reminding us that these eternal parables will help us to understand how the world works.
Darlene: Where do you get those phrases?
Valentin: Different sources. The reason I started using them was that after meeting the Dalai Lama and painting his portrait, I was inspired by a number of things about Buddhism and itsÖ
Darlene: World philosophy?
Valentin: It's not that it's just from the Dalai Lama. For example Nietzsche was very much inspired by Buddhism and he was quoting lots of Buddhism and borrowing lots of things from Nietzsche are not necessarily Nietzsche - it's the way he inspired - like old phrases and old parables belong to world philosophy - who said first 'be kind' is it Dalai Lama? Or Buddha? Or maybe somebody before Buddha? Was it Jesus Christ? Maybe Jesus Christ and Buddha, maybe Dalai Lama and Jesus Christ - two very different people who came to the same conclusion, its very good to be kind. So can it be said that 'be kind' is a Buddhist expression or Christian expression? Maybe both.
Darlene: And do you think it matters?
Valentin: No, not really. Absolutely not.
Darlene: Often the phrases you put into your paintings read as phrases we've all heard but can't quite remember when or where. It becomes an investigation for the viewer about their own self and the question 'where did the phrase come from?' Some of them are one or two words taken from some sort of new age self help book or a popular best seller. Do you read those books or are you reading much more philosophy?
Valentin: Not really. Mostly just...
Darlene: Are you aware that people are using these phrases as self help guides?
Valentin: Possibly. Lots of people do lots of different things. I can't be aware of what everybody does. I just do what I do.
Darlene: But it's not your regular reading material?
Valentin: No, but its very important. For example one woman was looking in my studio and wanted to buy a painting - She paid attention to this painting 'Be Kind'. She liked it and said that's exactly what I tell my children all the time. The purpose is to have a painting with expression on the wall and every time you pass it you can see and it reminds you - a famous old parable 'be kind' is good for you and its something we need. We need something to remind us. We have the tendency to get trapped in everyday things and forget about sayings and it's very nice to surround yourself with sayings to remind you of very important things like 'be kind' or other phrases like 'life is painful, suffering is optional.' or 'If you're still searching eventually don't see.' Different people understand some phrases differently.
Darlene: Just as the Dalai Lama understood it differently
Valentin: Yes
Darlene: Did you create all new work for the Huntington Beach exhibition?
Valentin: Most recent work. All new work? What definition of new work? I was working on some pieces which took a couple of years. Some pieces were started in 1998 and I just finished them. All the paintings of sky and water are brand new. Three big paintings. The monotypes I'm still working on are definitely new. The paintings with the children, one new, another two I'm doing final touches on. I still consider them new because I've never show them before.
Valentin Popov became an American citizen on August 28, 2001.