Although Volodia Popov was born in Russia, his painting is considered as Occidental in inspiration. His art is inspired by ail his encounters, ne is enriched by ail his discovehes. For ten years he has composed pain-tings which integrate in his highly individual style ail the elements of Russian tradition, using fairy-tales, songs, legends, peasant motifs, and ail the characters and animais of folklore. He has developed in his sear-ch for themes, but has kept a palette of colours which is very close to that of ikons, folklore motifs, painted objects or embroidered costumes. His colours are extraordinarily rich and elaborate, and his Unes are extremely pure. It is obvious that his work is not spontaneous but the fruit of his long creative evolution. At art school he studied indus-trial drawing, and has found a special approach that enables him to show objects both from the inside and from the outsi-de. This gives a very strong impression of secrecy and mystery, of the symbolic, sug-gesting the impenetrability of people and things. Volodia Popov works patiently on colours and relief and this gives his canvases a touch of abstraction.

Using the effects of materials, transparencies, patches of colour and blobs with fraying edges, he lends life to the whole surface ofhis painting and gives his work a texture by the crisscrossing of At art school he studied indus-trial drawing, and has found a special approach that enables him to show objects both from the inside and from the outside. This gives a very strong impression of secrecy and mystery, of the symbolic, sug-gesting the impenetrability of people and things. Volodia Popov works patiently on colours and relief and this gives his canvases a touch of abstraction. Using the effects of materials, transparencies, patches of colour and blobs with fraying edges, he lends life to the whole surface ofhis painting and gives his work a texture by the crisscrossing of scratches, splashes, splutte-rings which create a network of Unes that, like vesssels car-rying sap to the heart of his canvas, make it shimmer. His works are scrupulously composed in a skilful structure that reflects the free-roa-ming poetry and rhythm ofhis imagination. With him we are plunged into surrealistic worlds where each object is autonomous and free, freer than the women the artist likes to portray who seem enclosed in an endless dream, silent and speechless, inaccessible, reserving their tender-ness for voluptuous cats.