Selected dates:

July 28, 1949

Born in the village of Sitnyaki (Makarovsky district, Kiev region, Ukrainian SSR, today Ukraine).

1973

Graduated from the graphic arts department of the Vitebsk State Pedagogical Institute .

Member of the Belarusian Union of Artists .

Since 1987

Member of the creative association "Square" .

January 7, 2016

Died in Vitebsk .

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• Memoirs of Alexander Maley:

• "Each artist has a starting point from which the later established period of his work is formed. Valery, in my opinion, is the Rossony plein air. In the collective farm named after the Hero of the Civil War Azin, near the regional center of Rossony, in 1985, three artists - V Veremyev, A. Maley and V. Chukin arranged for themselves a plein air for a month. It was after the plein air, processing the accumulated material in the studio, that the artist reached his “level”, which subsequently developed and was enriched with new nuances and artistic discoveries. The artist found himself in the material gouache (wet painting), showing innovation and giving the material, which was used at that time mainly as a decorative design, artistic value in itself. In the "Square" V. Chukin also turned to painting on canvas. This period lasted quite a long time, opening a new line in the artist's work.The paintings at the exhibition "Experiment", dedicated to the 110th anniversary of the birth of K. Malevich, were bold and original. they felt a challenge to painting itself, to its classical interpretation as the queen of art. Freely flowing paint on the canvas, free relationships of color spots and shades created the impression of hooligan frivolity and the artist's desire to destroy the usual taste attachments without introducing new ones. This position is akin to the "New Wild" movement in Europe and America in the 1950s - early 60s, in the work of artists such as William Hayter and Franz Kline, AR Penck. These masters did not set themselves the task of pictorial discoveries, but used painting as a subject of self-expression, sometimes creating their works in the manner of “anti-painting”, deliberately distorting the usual stereotypes of pictorial relations. In the work of V. Chukin, postmodernist tendencies of the mid-twentieth century can be traced. Valery writes memorable works - "Nude", "Lovers", "In the Boat", "Conversation with Son", "Night". In 1992–1993 the artist returns to gouache and creates a series of works "Parallel Worlds", which ends with a solo exhibition of the same name in 1994. In these works, V. Chukin sharpened the main feature of his work, which, in fact, distinguishes him from other artists - this is the feeling erected to the rank of artistic content and form. His gouaches do not shine with fireworks of colorful hues or the symbolism of color, they are plastically modest and stingy with stylistic features, but they are often organized in an incomprehensible way in such a way that the viewer has a feeling of Content hidden behind the simplicity of artistic techniques. In "Parallel Worlds", the artist created a sense of a metaphysical reality that the viewer can come into contact with through their own feelings, catching the subtle impulse of the artist. Attitude through creativity, and creativity through attitude - such is the leitmotif of all his artistic searches " . - © Alexander Malei: Vitebsk "Square": An Artistic Study of the Nonconformist Movement of Artists in Vitebsk and Minsk (1987–2000), 204 pages.