Bookmarks, 2026

Galya Popova   Emerging artists

Galya Popova is an experienced artist based in Germany whose paintings have been featured in solo and group exhibitions worldwide. Passionate about art since childhood, Galya Popova has developed her own practice creating paintings with stories behind them. Exploring themes of childhood, memory, and nature, her distinct style is characterized by curious characters and snapshots of everyday life.

Galya Popova is a contemporary painter born in 1978 in Moscow, Russia, and currently residing in Bonn, Germany. From the age of six, she demonstrated remarkable artistic talent, which allowed her to quickly integrate into adult workshops. She continued her training at the Moscow Academic Art School "In Memory of 1905," where she specialized in scenography, and then obtained a degree in costume design from the Moscow State University of Services in 2005.

Galya Popova's work is distinguished by its poetic and introspective dimension. Her paintings, often made in oil on canvas, explore themes such as childhood, memory, nature, and human emotions. She creates evocative compositions where faces, although sometimes similar to her own, serve as "masks" to express universal states of mind. Her style, described as poetic figurative, blends elements of everyday life with a dreamlike atmosphere, transforming ordinary moments into scenes imbued with mystery and sensitivity.

Galya Popova has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions internationally, including in Germany, Russia, France, and Malaysia. Notable works include "Growing" (2016), exhibited at V'Art Space in Kuala Lumpur, and series such as "Porto Pollo" and "Impossible Behavior." She has also collaborated on interdisciplinary projects, such as the "Emotions Project," in partnership with American composer Molly Joyce and dancer Anna Koblova of the Bolshoi Theatre.

Alongside her painting career, she worked as an illustrator for Russian publishers and briefly explored the world of fashion, presenting a haute couture collection at Moscow Fashion Week. However, she considers painting her true calling, a free and personal means of expression. Her creative process is guided by intuition, where each canvas evolves organically, without a predefined plan, thus reflecting her emotions and perceptions of the moment.