Today we are getting acquainted with the work of Valeriia Udalova (artist name Valery Sabatovski). Valeria
hopes her experience will help other people no matter the age/gender/nationality: whether they are just starting their creative journey or are already well into it, but especially she wants to help a young audience that is still searching for their path and grappling with self-doubt.
Valeriia is contemporary artist working on the edge of abstraction and surrealism. Her works, known to connoisseurs under the pseudonym Sabatovski, are not just canvases, but deep philosophical messages, where the “tree of life” and the human heart become guides to the world of self-knowledge. Valeriia’s creativity is closely intertwined with ecological activism and humanistic values, which is confirmed by her cooperation with the international organization Greenpeace. Read about the path from a childhood hobby to a large-scale exhibition in London.
Her attraction to art was strong since her very childhood. Artist suspect that she need to thank my incredibly talented close women – her aunt and grandmother. To what extent this attraction was conscious or not, Valeriia did not ask herself such a question back then: “To be honest, art, and especially painting, has always been more to me than just drawing or an opportunity to buy a brand new paint and have a good time”
…looking around at the world and people, I no longer want to go against them, but instead I am trying to find a point of unification for the world, that harmony which, it seems to me, we as humanity are slowly starting to lose. Surrealism became an ideal style for me, because this way, in a coded form, I can send a message to humanity”
Valery Sabatovski (Valeriia Udalova)
Valery went through a long journey in search of “that very style of my own.” For quite a lot of years, I painted only portraits of people and animals.
Upon receiving their portraits, people described their feelings of happiness and warmth, which, as most said, came from the heart. Then Valeriia realised how truly rarely we turn to our heart, because we were taught to listen only to the mind so as “not to make mistakes.” And artist wondered… What if, indeed, sometimes listening to the heart is exactly what it means to feel life?
Thus, painting portrait after portrait, I began secretly from everyone to try to depict what comes out of my heart. But what pained me above all else?
What can I do, and can I even do anything?”
Valery Sabatovski (Valeriia Udalova)
Valeriia’s path was not as easy as she wanted it to be.
Despite success in her studies as a scientist, artist still never abandoned art, because it is impossible to stop that which comes from the very heart. Valery is heard various opinions: “to be truly professional in such an ultra-complex field, one must be born Frida Kahlo or be just as eccentric as Salvador Dali,” “you are simply wasting your time”; some did not believe at all that the paintings or portraits were painted by her But did all this stop her? As you can notice, not at all! Because every warm word, every smile, every request of “oh, show me your works too,” every pleasant discussion regarding one art style or another made Valeriia realize that art can unify even stronger than many can imagine.
Anatomy of silence” | Watercolour in canvas
Oxford, 2026, Valery Sabatovski artist
“For me, every painting and its main symbols carry both
a sacred meaning and show a biological connection with nature. Look at a scientific photograph of the human nervous system.
How does it differ from the crown of most trees that we see in a park, in forests, or just on the streets?“
“Revealing infinity” | Watercolour and acrylic in canvas
Oxford, 2025, Valery Sabatovski artist
Valery believe that one can “tell” a story with a brush and show a spiritual unification with everything living. But one can also not forget that our biology and what we consider “dry scientific facts” are also a part of the sacred, of the natural. Therefore, with respect to our biological essence we will live, and with respect to our sacred connection with everything living.
For Valeriia, first of all, it is important what the viewers themselves see and feel when they look at her paintings. What they think about when they see the canvas for the first time, and what — for the third or tenth time. When they see it live and when they see it in a photo or video. Valeriia`s task as an artist is to pass her feelings to the judgment of the viewer. It is important for her to attract attention. It is important that viewers ponder over their own things, even if they know the idea of the canvas, so that they even argue, passing their thoughts to loved ones, to Valery. This is exactly that connection and that very unification for the sake of which, in artist humble opinion, art must and will live.
Although Valeriia’s idea of unification and the moral healing of soul wounds is one of the central ones, she could never have even imagined that one of my works would do this on such a large scale (as for her, of course). The painting “Heart that remains strong” was born from a deeply personal feeling – reflections on illness, resilience, and the quiet power of women. It is inspired by two women who deeply influenced Valery’s life: her grandmother, who resisted cancer, and her younger sister, who lives with diabetes every day. When artist showed this work to friends, colleagues, and just good acquaintances, they almost always shared with Valery their own difficult experience or the experience of their closest ones.
“Many, after talking with me and seeing this canvas,
finally after a long time called their parents,
forgot offenses against friends, and wrote them a warm
“Hi. How are you?”. I was a little bit shocked, but so pleased
that someone finally had a long-awaited conversation,
someone gained inspiration, hope, and an understanding
that life is not so bad, and time is not so unfair as it might seem.”
Valery Sabatovski (Valeriia Udalova)
“A heart that remains strong ”
| Watercolour and acrylic in canvas
Oxford, 2025, Valery Sabatovski artist
First and foremost, it is important for Valeriia to convey her ideas, vision of the world, and draw humanity’s attention to problems that are much more important than internecine “games.” Through artist’s works, Valery would like to lead a “conversation” with the viewers: for someone quietly, soothingly and supportively, for someone, perhaps, to become a thunderbolt from the clear sky – to unlock inner strength and confidence.
“If more and more people are familiar with my creativity,
this will help me in my small mission, definitely. In unification
not against someone, but for the sake of something –
that is the most important thing, isn’t it?”
Valery Sabatovski (Valeriia Udalova)
“We are all ONE” | For Greenpeace
Special art, 2024, Oxford
“Anatomy of silence” | Watercolour in canvas
Oxford, 2026, Valery Sabatovski artist
