Valeriy Gridnev is a Russian-born artist who was born in 1956. He studied at Sverdlovsk Art College and later enrolled at St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, where he graduated in 1990. He worked at the academy's postgraduate "creative" studio for four years before becoming a member of the Russian Artist's Federation in 1991. In 1999, he moved to the UK, where he became a member of the Pastel Society in 2003, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 2006, and the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 2011. Gridnev is known for his portraiture and oil painting.