Nicholay Chepokov was born on January, 30th, 1961 and later abandoned by his mother. Than he had passed through children's home before three years remaining in the first class of a boarding school. In childhood he strongly stammered. Nicholay has been turned out from a boarding school for inert behaviour and terrible successes when he ended 9 classes. Future painter studied in a town technical specialized school as the carpenter, worked on a construction, than as a fireman, grazed cattle and roamed on a taiga with expedition. Now simply I wander - the silly head do not let my legs stay in a rest…. speaks about itself Nikolay Chepokov
The homeless person without any passport wanders across Altai. Sometimes he will get warm at one fire, sometimes at another one. All his belongings: brushes, paints, feather and paper Nicholay carries in a bag on a shoulder, therefore it is easily to move. He calls itself Tarakai, that means the beggar, the tramp on altaian language. He draws, as well as he lives - in one contact, without any sketches. But how Tarakai draws! In its pictures there are no dead subjects. Mountains, streams, trees, clouds look like kind and severe, sad and cheerful, artful and simple beings, as the people. Malicious Delbegen looks from the moon, woman-werewolf Almyska roams in mountains, and naughty spirits of a fire are dancing on the wood. Look, that little dog, hardly more than small insect in size, has eaten plenty and  lazy wags a tail, and this horse is tired and indifferent. Pictures of Tarakai, similarly to the founder, conduct a chaotic way of life and scatter as a cloud on the sky, hardly having left from a feather. Ten years of creativity, hundred unique figures and no exhibition, no any publication. And at last in Novosibirsk has got out already his first album - «The silly wanderer»! In this sleepless night his inspired brush will give birth to ten masterpieces. And tomorrow he will distribute them to  casual people, will collect the paints and … Wonderful meetings to you, Tarakai!