LBMA to Open New Exhibition: Ironic Icons

The Long Beach Museum of Art (LBMA) will open an exciting and extraordinary exhibition by Ukrainian-born artist Valentin Popov on Jan. 12, 2017 through March 19. The exhibition will feature, for the first time, the modern painter’s work in a Southern California museum.

Included in the exhibition are Popov’s Ironic Icon series, where he combines images of the American comic book superhero with traditional religious iconography from early Christianity.

Also on display will be Popov’s iconic large-scale painting Early Morning, based on the 1817 painting L’Amour et Psyché by the French artist François-Édouard Picot. The exhibition features 60 of the artist’s works which include traditional Russian icons with subjects such as St. Batman, St. Superman and St. Wonder Woman. Each work retains its original richly embossed and engraved sterling silver and 24kt gold cover.

Popov notes, “It was in 1993 when I first began to meld my Ukrainian past, filled with the memories of icons, with the exciting, yet unnerving sea of American pop culture. I focused on the image of Batman over all other superheroes. Poignantly, he was, more than any of the others, just a man. He was not endowed with super powers beyond his intelligence, athleticism, or an exotic array of weapons, devices, and vehicles at his disposal. This sense of power, mixed with human vulnerability, made him an irresistible choice to incorporate into my art.”

Popov has private collectors worldwide and he has works in the National Museum of Ukrainian Art, the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and more.

Ron Nelson, executive director of the Long Beach Museum of Art, stated, “The museum has had a long history presenting art works that defy easy classification. American super heroes and their imperial retinue capture the imagination like none other and to see their pop culture realism blended with Orthodox Christian iconography is a brilliant juxtaposed concept and invites us to view both traditions in an entirely new and challenging light.”

For more information visit the museum’s website at www.lbma.org.