On March 8, 2024, the opening of a personal exhibition of the paintings of the famous Kropnytskyi artist Valerii Davydov "Outdoor Travels of Valerii Davydov" was held in the O.O.Osmerkin Art Memorial Museum as part of the museum art project "Laureates of the Regional Prize in the Field of Fine Arts and Art History named after Oleksandr Osmerkin".
    Valerii Mykolayovych Davydov is very well known in Kropyvnytskyi both as an artist and as a teacher. Born on December 21, 1954 in Kirovohrad (now Kropyvnytskyi). Graduated with honors from the Odesa State Art School named after M.B.Grekov (1984) and St.Petersburg State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after I.Yu.Repin (1993). Member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine (2005). Laureate of the regional award in the field of fine arts and art history named after Oleksandr Osmerkin in the nomination "national tradition" (2018). He worked as a designer of the Kirovohrad Art and Production Workshops of the Art Fund of the Ukrainian SSR (1984-1988) and the director of the Kirovohrad Regional Art Museum, now the Museum of Art of the Kirovohrad Regional Council (1998-2001). Led an active pedagogical activity - for twenty years he taught students at the Department of Fine Arts and Design of the Faculty of Arts, now the Department of Art Education of the Faculty of Pedagogy, Psychology and Arts, Central Ukrainian State University named after V.Vynnychenko (2001-2021) and the Kirovohrad Faculty of the Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts. Now teaches students at the art school named after O. O. Osmerkin. But the main thing for him is painting. His creative works were exhibited at all-Ukrainian and international art exhibitions. And in 2008, he became a participant in the National Project "Ukrainians in the World", for which he created five portraits, including portrait of the artist Oleksandr Osmerkin. Paintings and graphic works are both in museum collections and in private collections in Ukraine and abroad. In art, he prefers realistic and academic painting, a separate direction in his work is icon painting.
    The idea of organizing an exhibition of open-air sketches is not accidental, because it was Valerii Davydov, when he worked as the director of the regional art museum, who initiated the annual regional open-air art event "Kirovohrad region through the eyes of artists". So, the exposition of the exhibition consists of almost forty pictorial sketches made by the artist in the years 2001-2023 in his native Kropyvnytskyi and during plein-air travels in Kirovohrad Region, in the city of Odesa as a student, and in the homeland of the world-famous painter Illia Repin in Chuhuiev, in Kharkiv Region, where in the summer of 2021 the 22nd International Repin Open Air was held, dedicated to the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's Independence under the slogan: "Repin is an artist in love with Ukraine". According to the definition of candidate of art history, associate professor of the department of art education of the Central State University named after V. Vynnychenko to Olena Kyrychenko: "Valerii Davydov's open-air landscapes are full of light, moving air and are very diverse in terms of color. You can look at them for a long time, immersing yourself in the purity and transparency of the air in the morning or evening, enjoying the ringing aroma of green summer, admiring the natural colors.".
    Valerii Davydov was congratulated on the opening of the exhibition by Vita Chernova, director of the museum, who presented him with a letter of thanks and a catalog of the exhibition prepared by the museum's scientists, Olha Shapoval, scientific employee of the Kirovohrad Regional Council Art Museum, chief custodian of the funds of the Kropyvnytskyi Museum of Musical Culture named after Karol Szymanowski, Olena Klassova, head Honored architect of Ukraine Yurii Peniaz of the Kirovohrad regional organization of the National Union of Architects of Ukraine.
    Artists, architects, museum workers, friends and admirers of his work visited Valerii Davydov's painting opening. Everyone listened with interest to the artist's stories about plein-air travels and the history of painting, and also received a gift of the exhibition catalog prepared by the museum with the talented artist's autograph.