Oil on canvas, 28 × 26 in. One thing I was struck by was Valentin’s command with the two most difficult challenges in any portrait: the eyes and the mouth. If you don’t have the eyes right and you don’t have the mouth right, it doesn’t work. An artist can draw things out of a person that most photography, or certainly snapshots, can’t. Valentin is particularly good at creating something new. I think that some people might even look at their portrait afterward and say, “Not only did he capture me then, but I might have something to live up to.” Barnaby Conrad III From Valentin Popov, FACE, a documentary film by Celik Kayalar, 2013.