David Chichkan, a famous artist in Ukraine who is known for his occasional clear political work facing censorship, died in 39.
Chichkan made national headlines in Ukraine through the Libertarian of Underground Vioctics, a program that was founded in 2014. The initiative produced art about right-wing ideology and worked hard to fight it.
In 2017, Chichkan held an exhibition on the 2013-14 Maidan Revolution in Kyiv, and artists participated. The purpose of the revolution was to protest President Viktor Yanukovych, who decided not to sign a trade agreement with the EU, bringing Ukraine closer to Russia. Eventually, the revolution eventually led to Yanukovych’s strike.
Once Chichkan’s show starts watching, the blogger starts savage and eventually stimulates real-life destruction. The masked man took part in the show, destroying almost all the work. “Many people think it wasn’t the neo-Nazis that destroyed the exhibition, but the Kremlin agents,” Chichikan said at the time. “But my exhibition part is about the fact that the neo-Nazi acted on behalf of the Kremlin. This contradiction is easily dismissed.”
It is easy for him to make such a bold statement, facing the oppressive force, with little fear. A claimed anarchist and communist who has remained politically active throughout his career.
Chichkan was born in 1986 in Kyiv to a group of artists who produced paintings of galleries and posters designed to spread on city streets. Much of his art is about Ukrainian culture, and he gained the upper hand in every aspect and then subverted it.
Chichkan began in 2021 with a series called “Alternative Hryvnias”, featuring characters like writers Ivan Franko and Lesya Ukrainka. But his reshaping banknotes also include people who did not appear in the real Ukrainian Khalivian, including the 19th-century economist Mykhailo Drahomanov, whose socialist theory tells Ukraine’s 1991 political constitution.
Starting from 2020-22, another series has taken the form of wreaths, using the yellow and blue colors of the Ukrainian flag. Titled “Ribbons and Triangles”, the series also features three other shades chosen by Chichkan: “Black corresponds to anti-authoritarian and decentralist ideas; purple represents feminism and cultural progress; red refers to social equality and direct democracy,” according to the Mhka Museum itself, the museum was originally the MHKA Museum of the series.
Just last year, Chichkan continued to face Ukraine’s regression. In 2024, the Odesa National Art Museum canceled his solo performance after some claiming he had twisted Ukrainian military history in previous works. “I am the bearer of the anti-authoritarian leftist view,” Chichkan told Ukrainian broadcaster Sassilne. “So those with right-wing authoritarian views tried to hinder my work; for this, they deliberately misunderstood my output.”
according to Kyiv independenceChichkan tried to join the Ukrainian armed forces in 2022 (the year when Russia invaded Ukraine), but for health reasons, he was unable to do so. Ultimately, in 2024, he was able to do so and chose the role of a mortar operator.
While some may find it strange that anarchists will be involved in the armed forces, Chichkan seems to think the decision is consistent with his anti-agreed view. On Instagram, he posted watercolors depicting the other soldiers he described as anti-sociocratists. A painting shows troops waving anarchist flag. Chichkan noted that this is only a partial view, accounting for only 10% of the anti-cooperative soldiers he encountered. “One day, I will all attract 100% of all,” he wrote.
