During the repelling of a Russian infantry assault on the Zaporizhzhia front on August 8, artist and soldier David Chichkan sustained a fatal wound. His heart stopped the following day. Chichkan was 39 years old.
This was reported by his comrades.
“He always approached any task diligently, never hiding behind others or relying on his social capital. He was always sincere with people and shared with his brothers- and sisters-in-arms his deep thoughts on politics, ethics, and social justice. David created a unique atmosphere around him and quickly found a way to connect with people of all views and moral systems while remaining true to his own convictions. He believed true anarchists should share the hardest hardships faced by their people. His death is a tremendous loss for us,” his comrades wrote.
The team of the Odesa Museum of Contemporary Art learned with deep sorrow about the death of the outstanding Ukrainian artist David Chichkan on the front line.

"We were fortunate to collaborate with him during the Fifth Odessa Biennale of Contemporary Art in 2017. Visitors always lingered by his exhibits at the main Biennale venue. He dedicated his art to the fight for freedom, and it was with this purpose that he went to defend Ukraine, ultimately giving his life for it," the message reads.

David Chichkan was born in 1986 in Kyiv. He was the son of Ukrainian artist Illya Chichkan, a representative of the New Wave in Ukrainian contemporary art and a member of the Paris Commune group; the grandson of nonconformist artist and participant in the 1979 Exhibition of the 13 Arkadiy Chichkan; and the great-grandson of Ukrainian Soviet socialist realist painter Leonid Chichkan.
He began his creative career in the early 2000s, identifying as an anarchist artist and calling himself a “drawer.” David Chichkan combined graphic art, posters, painting, street art, performance, and text in his work.
The Odessa Journal extends its heartfelt condolences to the family and loved ones of the artist.