Artistic Interpretations of Kyiv and Contemporary Art Practices: From Watercolour Painting to Decorative and Applied Arts Projects

Abstract

The purposes of the research are the identification of the distinctive features of artistic interpretations of Kyiv in painting, graphic arts, and decorative-applied arts of the late 20th – early 21st century and to analyse contemporary art practices that reflect on the Ukrainian capital as a cultural, symbolic, and spiritual space. The research methodology is based on the application of a systematic approach to the study of the defined issue and a combination of the following methods: art-historical, analytical, and comparative ones. The scientific novelty of the research is the comprehensive analysis of artistic interpretations of Kyiv within the context of contemporary art practices, combining both traditional and experimental forms of expression. For the first time, the work systematises approaches to understanding the urban space of the capital as a phenomenon of cultural memory and spiritual experience, and identifies trends in the interdisciplinary interaction of visual, decorative-applied, and social arts that shape a new urban identity of Kyiv. Conclusions. The artistic interpretations of Kyiv in contemporary art demonstrate a profound evolution from traditional landscape representation to complex conceptual forms of the visual urban space. Kyiv emerges not merely as an architectural or cartographic object, but as a cultural and spiritual phenomenon where historical memory, individual experiences, and collective identity intertwine. The Traditions of watercolour and painted depictions of the city have provided the foundation for early 21st-century innovations, when artists began actively rethinking the visual language through installations, art projects, and decorative-applied art objects. Contemporary artistic practices combine diverse techniques, materials, and media, creating a field of interdisciplinary interactions in which the urban space becomes a laboratory of artistic experience. In the creative concepts of modern artists, Kyiv is understood as a living environment of memory that preserves traces of the past while simultaneously responding to current events and transformations. Themes of destruction, revival, and spiritual renewal gain particular significance amid wartime and socio-cultural challenges, forming a new vision of the city’s symbolic imagery. Thus, contemporary art focused on Kyiv functions as a dialogue between tradition and experimentation, the material and the metaphysical, the personal and the collective. Within this dialogue emerges a new visual language of the capital – reproducing its urban identity, spiritual meaning, and cultural resilience in a changing historical context.