Mykhailo Popov was born and grew up in the small farm of Yahly in Kharkiv Region in 1946 year, and his childhood memories of his parents and fellow villagers have served more than once as the basis for paintings characterized by a deep understanding of folklore.
Popov showed love of drawing early in his childhood. After he graduated from the Kharkiv College of Artistic Trades in 1976, he worked at watercolors, and traveled several times across Ukraine as a member of art groups. He began to display his works at many art shows, and in 1986 joined the Union of Artists of Ukraine. At that time he began to be more and more interested in oil painting, regarding the watercolor technique inadequate to render his ideas on canvas.
The painter has created many works based on folk beliefs and legends. In them he has skillfully combined elements of folk fantasy and real life. Nature and animals have been painted with special accuracy. Dogs,cats and she-goats, sheep and cows, various birds and wild animals have distinctive characters and are reminiscent of folk tale personages. It should be noted that when his works were first put on show many art critics and connoisseurs were highly critical of them. Fortunately, this situation was short, and the painter became confident that the path he had taken in pictorial art was correct.
“Feelings are especially acute during childhood and youth,” he explains. “The door roots of my creative work strike from there. I never make sketches of my pictures since the memories of everything that happened to me, of people whom I met, are so vived and bright that preliminary drawings are unnecessary”.
Personal exhibitions: Kharkiv, Kiev, Moscow, Riga (Latvia), Prague (Ceria) Toronto (Canada), Washington (USA) and other.