Kotkov worked in the field of political posters and participated in exhibitions and competitions. His works were published in the official album Ukrainian Soviet Poster and printed in large editions by state publishing houses. He skillfully combined this work with a passion for jazz, interest in global modern art, and personal creative experiments.
Kotkov combined reliefs and mosaics or painting in his monumental compositions, and also created posters, mosaic panels, graphic portraits, and stained-glass. Kotkov’s art is considered exemplary, though he belongs to the Kyiv modernists associated with unofficial art. As a monumental artist, he was successful and popular, but his painting practice faced harsh criticism: he was accused of formalism, and until the 1980s he often created “for the drawer,” experimenting with various stylistic techniques that later materialized in mosaics and volumetric-spatial compositions accessible to a broad audience.
Notable works by Kotkov include the monumental-decorative design of the Kyiv River Station, Boryspil Airport, Kyiv Metro stations Lybidska and Hydropark; mosaic panels at the Palace of Culture of the Dniprodzerzhynsk Chemical Plant and City of the Sun at the Kyiv Factory; the stele In Memory of the Fallen Chernobyl Workers in Kyiv; graphic works Hutsul, Projectors, Fortress “Horishok”; and paintings Grandmother and Grandson, Spring, Landscape, Self-Portrait, Ballet, Marriage, Abduction of the Beloved, Love Games, Iconostasis, Christ, Family, Three Graces, Paradise Garden, Guardian Angel, Origin of Life, and On the Black Sea Shore.