Pages from Chudin's Book

Viktor Chudin

(1936 year of birth)

From 1952 to 1957, Victor attended the painting division of an Art Institute, under the supervision of V.A. Belonovich, G.Y. Melnikov, V.F.Gurov, and V.K. Danilov. From 1961 to 1965 he lived and worked in Poland.

In 1957 Victor for the first time in his life participated in local art exhibit in Saratov. It was there that he met Nikolai Gushinoi that later on had a major influence on him. As of that time, he began to consider himself as a “Saratov’s nonconformist”. In 1961-1965 he lived and worked in Poland, where he began to develop the concept of “Formulas of colors”. In 1969 he had his first individual exhibit in Moscow, printed in a magazine “Change”. In 1970’s he participates in developing programs at the House of Culture in Krasniy Kut and Gluhovskiy. In 1987 he had his personal gallery at the Museum of A. N. Radishev in Saratov. As of 1989 0 1996 the artists works are exhibited in numerous galleries in Germany. From 1997 until now, Vistor experiments with the technique of acrylic painting. The art works of Victor Chudin are located in museums of A. N. Radishev (more than 100 works), museum of K.A. Fedin (in Saratov), in Altai regional museum (Barnaul), and in the hands of private owners across Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Saratov, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Israel and the U.S.

“Victor Chudin is one of the most famous representatives of so-called “national undergraound” in Povolojie. His works have been mostly produced on the foreign soil in 1960-1970’s, however his own personal evolution continues to successfully continue to this day. By the way, in present time the artist’s works have many similarities of those of A. Zverev, with whom he personally met. His eagerness to learn more of symbolism and the meaning of life connects to his personal emphasis on subjective reading of motives. His styles of work are numerous. His portraits often take the look of philosophical pictures his genre motives can make one look at himself within, and his landscapes can almost become reality.

“Native and close” – is Victor’s only requirement for his choice of topics for paintings. His every canvas represents something of familiarity – portraits of his close friends, images of the environment around his house, his city and suburbs, the interior of his workplace, still-life in his kitchen, all the while the colors fall in under his particular mood, giving the art its own feeling and meaning.

The many meanings of his “painting system” erase the difference between the ambiguous and the concrete. The image of his painting might transform several times, it can crystallize in a picturesque elements, where the rich colors will change the structure, and will be seen as a “poetic being”, emotional and moving.

Color, for Victor Chudin – is a way to illustrate his emotional creativity. His works all support one meaning, of beauty never be too bright, there needs to be contrast of thin, sophisticated taste. The surface, as the meaning, of Chudin’s works is complicated, rich. One color covers another, the brush stroke can at times look as “not combed properly”, it almost seems as it all happened in a rush. At the end of it all, the artist organizes his colorful spots into half-materialized forms, full of meaning. One of his favorite topics – are ravines. “They are like flowers” – says the artist. One of his works clearly shows a valley developing in a blooming flower with spiky petals. Colors shows the excitement, intensity and illuminates the energy.