Changes in the themes, aesthetics and functions of public images in Kyiv due to the influence of socio-cultural processes in the society of 1990-2010

Abstract

On the back of the rapid development in public art in recent decades, and in particular graffiti and muralism, interest in them has grown significantly among cultural studies scholars, art critics, architects, sociologists, and urban planners. Numerous works that have appeared in the West and in Ukraine are devoted to various aspects of the visual public art existence. This theme continues to be one of the most relevant for contemporary visual art. This article complements the bunch of acquired knowledge with a detailed study of the impact of socio-cultural processes in society on the changes that took place in monumental painting, graffiti and muralism in Kyiv during 1990–2010, i.e. during the most important changes in politics and society in recent decades. The peculiarities of each historical stage of this influence are analysed and outlined in the study, and the theoretical analysis is displayed by the description of the most characteristic works. Most of them are researched in detail. In addition, the process of decline of monumental painting in the late 1980s and early 1990s is analysed, the factors of graffiti flourishing in the 1990s are identified and highlighted, and the origins of the rapid development of muralism after 2004 and especially after 2014 are explored. At each stage, changes in the themes, aesthetics and functions of public images are traced. The definitions, such as muralism and graffiti, are updated in this paper, taking into account changes in art and the latest achievements in its analysis. The manifestations of the national-patriotic themes in the contemporary art of muralism are considered in detail, the classification of art work on this subject is given, the corresponding examples are given. Such concepts as public art, synthesis of arts, monumental painting, graffiti, muralism are attentively aligned. The study of the nature of the socio-cultural processes and visual arts correlations is promising for further scientific and theoretical developments and the practical aspect for better understanding of the specific works