“…His more recent depictions of Venice are of landmarks, mostly done at night. Illuminated by artificial light, the city takes on an otherworldly glow that some might interpret as magical. Below that twinkling veneer, however, it seems more a somewhat lonely, even sinister stage set, reminiscent of the extraordinarily terrifying and unnerving mood created in the 1973 Nicholas Roeg movie, Don’t Look Now, which takes place in Venice. It is interesting that Popov chooses to paint Venice, along with other European cities such as Rome and Berlin, rather than American views. It’s as if, despite the comfort of his new surroundings in the United States, he cannot – nor should he – cut his European roots that excite and stimulate his creativity.”


from the essay "Through the Looking Glass"
by Robert Flynn Johnson,
p.26, Popov, Modernism, Inc.