I felt myself an artist in 1989 when I was 25 years old. It came out of
nowhere. Without any art education, I, suddenly started painting and was
immediately acknowledged by art critics. I was producing a lot of art. In the
course of five years (from 1989 to 1993) I painted around 500 paintings and
had many exhibitions. Several paintings were purchased by a famous
collector Norton Dodge, one painting is in exposition of Art Zimmerli
Museum in USA.
This is an article by an art critic Larisa Skobkina, published at that
time:
"Series of works created by Valeriy Khattin in summer 1989 brought him a big
fame. Created in calm ocher shades, laconic and tensely concentrated it
is fascinating with its philosophy. The art critic of Russian Art Museum
S.M.Zhavoronkova called this series of paintings "People Under God". The
little people are lost in a vast, dull colored landscape, vis-a-vis with
Nature and World Creation.The paintings are created in a very short time
period with an enormous concentration of power.
This painting series brought the artist respect from art community and a
significant commercial success.His works were purchased by private owners,
galleries, and were exported abroad. It seemed that the artist has found
himself, created his unique style that could have been developed further
and further. In these circumstances,there is always a danger of a mass
production, especially if the demand is stable and high. Fortunately,the
Young artist was not seduced by the easy path, exhausting the inner urge
for this topic, in contrast, he suddenly and rapidly changes his style and
subject,not listening to the customer's demand. New cycles of paintings
appear. The artist is blown away by the brightness of landscapes. Created
with energetic big brush strokes, his new art pieces are a melody of
beautiful colors, giving birth to a vibrant space. The artist is opposing
the ascetic spirituality acquired in his "Ocher Series" with bright joyful
Nature, transformed and illuminated by the Sun."
In 1993 the artist is giving up painting, because he can not create
paintings any more. It is followed by 22 years of silence in painting.
Transition to film and computer graphic design. Was working as a clip
maker. Created music video clips for Aquarium, Korol i Shyt, Tatyana
Bylanova, Ivantseva,etc.
In 2012 Valeriy starts intensively creating new artworks. The paintings of
the new period are absolutely different from his previous ones. But just as
before, the artist is taking his inspiration from his childhood memories,
fantasies and possibly from a real communication with the Spirit of the
Earth.