The portrait occupies an important place in the work of V. Shestopal. The main direction here is the psychological portrait, revealing significant traits of a person's character and their belonging to the Soviet era.
Among the portraits of workers, which are not equal in artistic merit, there are less figurative works, such as "Portrait of Abdykadyrov M., a lathe operator at the M. V. Frunze factory" (1984, metal), "Portrait of Akilbaeva A., a worker at the Frunze woolen and cotton mill" (1984, wood), in which everyday prosaic truth predominates. Against this backdrop, the work created with great respect and personal sympathy for the working person, "Forming Worker of the M. V. Frunze Factory Joldosh Musabekov" (1975, copper), stands out, where the typicality of the image is combined with the revelation of the individuality of the nature. The form here is solid and expressive. The welded metal corresponds well to the image of a skilled worker, enhancing the authenticity of the impression. In his character, the sculptor emphasized intelligence, humanity, and naturalness. The portrait "Surgeon I. Akhunbaev" (1982, granite) is psychological. The generalized head of the famous surgeon, carved in stone, expresses a strong, significant character, the self-absorption of a creative personality. Somewhat hypertrophied in size, with a minimally detailed volume, the sculpture evokes additional emotions, further distinguishing the image from everyday life. The portrait "Cholpon" (1977, bronze) is attractively lyrical in its youthful image, with its pure, melodic silhouette and the softness of the volume modeling. Human individuality is subtly expressed in the "Portrait of the Historian" (1982, aluminum). The peculiar shape of the head, the relief of the face with a piercing squint of the eyes and a determined mouth line, and the texture that richly responds to lighting reveal the character and spiritual world of the portrayed individual. The result of the sculptor's serious work on historical portraiture is the piece "Yakov Logvinenko" (1984, wood), where the technique of chronic authenticity is applied. The typification of the figure stands out. The figure, as if stepping through the dramatic winds of history, is ascetically strict and carries not so much a specific human individuality as a sense of documentality, a charge of revolutionary energy, and a willful composure, ready to sacrifice oneself for the common cause.
By order of the Central Committee of the Komsomol of Kyrgyzstan, Shestopal created, in the best traditions of the Soviet psychological portrait, a tabletop bust of Hero of the Soviet Union Cholponbay Tuleberdiev (1978, bronze), which was approved as a transitional prize in the system of vocational education in the republic.
The seriousness and multifaceted nature of Shestopal's work as a portraitist is evidenced by his engagement with images of international significance. He worked on the images of M. V. Frunze (M. V. Frunze, 1967, aluminum. Memorial Museum of M. V. Frunze), Lenin (V. I. Lenin, 1982, bronze, granite. Kyrgyzkolkhozproject), and academician K. I. Skryabin (1982, bronze), and created a monumental half-figure of Toktogul (1983, plaster, interior of the Philharmonic building). In the gallery of his portrait works, there are "Poet Yesenin" (1966, plaster), "Portrait of Hero of the Soviet Union Ts. Kunnikov" (1978, plaster), "A. S. Pushkin" (1979, bronze).
