Discover: Top 10 Contemporary Artists from Ukraine

10. Alevtina Kakhidze

There couldn’t be a better artist to start our list with than Alevtina Kakhidze. Born in 1973 in Zhdanivka, Donetsk, Kakhidze grew up with the Soviet-Russian culture and currently resides and works in Muzychi, a village near Kyiv, Ukraine. Her multidisciplinary body of works and identity consists of an intriguing mix of Ukrainian-Georgian and West-European culture.

Elements of both spheres intertwine within her artistic practice, based upon personal experiences such as her experiences of war, but also her infinite imagination. She tackles issues such as capitalism, identity, gender, war, but also love. At Manifesta 10, she examined the Soviet-Finish War, aiming to create a link between the political situation of East Ukraine and the Russian military involvement back in 2015. Even more, the very same year, she participated in the 6th Moscou Biennial in Russia.[1]

9. Yevgenia Belorusets

Born in 1980, the artist, writer, and photographer Yevgenia Belorusets currently resides and works between Kyiv and Berlin. She is best known for her photographic works, calling for awareness when it comes to the vulnerability of Ukrainian society – a perspective reaching new peaks of interest and relevance due to the current events in Ukraine.

The award-winning writer and contemporary artist works on the intersection of art and literature, journalism and social activism, and document versus fiction. Her project-based practice focuses on specific long-term cases. For instance, with Victories of the Defeated, she created a series of documentary photographs, writings, interviews, and more, dedicated to the coal miner communities who existed on the verge of a military conflict. Further, she visited between 2014 and 2017 war cities in the Donbass Region in Ukraine and is doing the very same thing as we speak.[2]

As a result, we highly recommend following Yevgenia Belorusets’ ongoing wartime diary at Artforum here.

8. Constantin Flondor

Born in 1936 in Cernauti-Bukowina, Ukraine, Constantin Flondor is a contemporary artist best known for co-founding the Sigma art group and the Prolog group in Romania. Both art groups are marked by an early experimental character, implementing kinetic art, photography, and film.

Flondor is interested in the primary element – earth, air, water, and fire. Influenced by constructivism and the use of algorithms, Flondor’s artistic practice examines the world resulting in a global and integrative comprehension of our surroundings and how para-architectural forms react to these surroundings.[3]

7. Mykola Ridnyj

Up next, we have Mykola Ridnyi, born in 1985 in Kharkiv, residing and working in Kyiv, Ukraine. Ridnyi is trained as a sculptor but is, in fact, a multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker, curator, author, and essayist on art and politics. As a result, the Ukraine Uomo Universalis is a very influential figure in Kharkiv and Ukraine, not only as an artist but also as a curator and writer.

His artistic practice encompasses a wide range of media, thinking of collective actions as performance, up to site-specific installations, or film and photography. In doing so, Ridnyi aims to reflect upon social and political realities. A focal point and recurring theme is the contrast between the fragility and resilience of not only individual stories but also of our shared collective histories.[4]

6. Olga Balema

Born in 1984 in Kyiv, Ukraine, Olga Balema is a contemporary artist residing and working in New York, the United States of America. Balema is best known for her sculptures and installations, combining abstract and representational elements.

She takes on the notion of the body by analyzing philosophical schisms between concept and object or subject. The bodies she creates seem to be in an abandoned state. Think of her transparent sacks filled with metal, paint, or liquids. The body is the interior, carried by a soft skin or a structured skeleton, fabricated by various media such as plastic, acrylic, steel, latex, and more.[5]

5. Aljoscha

Born in 1974 in Glukhov, Ukraine, currently working and residing in Düsseldorf, Germany, Aljoscha is a contemporary artist best known for his characteristic visual language exploring the possibilities of synthetic biology in art. His sculptures and installations are a manifestation of organic life with a futuristic touch.

Aljoscha describes his works as bioism or biofuturism. He seemingly creates new living forms based on vitality, multiplicity, and complexity. In doing so, he integrates these new organic forms into public spaces, site-specific installations, or as interventions in an urban environment.[6]

4. Sergey Bratkov

Born in 1960 in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sergey Bratkov is alongside Boris Mikhailov (cf. infra), a leading fine art photographer who documented the social vacuum and Ukraine’s uneasy transition after the collapse of the communist Soviet Union.

Bratkov was born and raised as a Soviet citizen before witnessing an almost violent and anarchic transition from communism to neoliberal capitalism. With this historical turning point as his key subject, the Ukrainian photographer expresses himself by the manner of fine art photography but also incorporates installation and video in his exhibitions.[7]

3. Zhanna Kadyrova

Born in 1981 in Brovary, Kyiv, Ukraine, Zhanna Kadyrova is a contemporary artist residing and working in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. The female artist is internationally lauded for her multidisciplinary practice, incorporating, among other media, mosaic and collage.

Kadyrova questions and critiques how political ideologies define our history and use art and aesthetic traditions as stepping stones toward those ideologies. Doing so, the Ukrainian artist examines how individuality dissolves in those ideological movements.[8]

2. Nikita Kadan

Born in 1982 in Kyiv, Ukraine, Nikita Kadan is a contemporary artist combining socio-political activism with art. He takes on architecture and history to analyze the legacy of the Soviet Union and its lingering effects on contemporary Ukraine.

Even more, recent events and protests convince the artist it has become impossible for a conscious Ukrainian citizen or artist not to be a social-political activist. As a result, his project-based practice focuses on historical events and source material.[9]

1. Boris Mikhailov

We conclude our list with none other than Boris Mikhailov. Born in 1938 in Kharkiv, Ukraine, he is a fine art photographer currently working and residing between Berlin, Germany, and Kharkiv, Ukraine.

As with Sergey Bratkov (cf. supra), Mikhailov was born and raised in the former Soviet Union, resulting in fine art photography with a strong social documentary character. His narrative photographs depict, document, and critique the raw and confronting reality of Ukraine’s rapid transition to capitalism, tackling issues such as homelessness, the growing gap between rich and poor, and the urban environment as ruins.[10]