The Influence of Structuralism on the Formation of Contemporary Ukrainian Plastic Art
Authors: Symotiuk Nazar 
Published: January 2024

The article examines the influence of structuralism on the formation of plastic art in Ukraine in the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries. First of all, we are talking about the creativity of the artists working in the field of fine and decorative arts and using wood as a material. It was outlined the defining principles of structuralism based on the works of contemporary researchers. Various structuralist approaches in cultural studies, philosophy and art are considered. For a deeper understanding of the nature of the Ukrainian plastic art the prerequisites for the development of structuralism in the visual arts on the basis of C. Monet's creative revolution and P. Cézanne's deep structural study of nature through geometry have been determined. The importance of P. Mondrian's creative experiments and the concept of neoplasticism introduced by him has been emphasized. The structuralist manifestos of C. Biederman, E. Bornstein and E. Wilmott have been analyzed. The creative method of structural reliefs of the Canadian artist of Ukrainian origin R. Kostyniuk, his inspirations and his own concepts of constructed compositions based on geometric shapes have been studied. In contrast to regular mechanical units and new technical material, the structural sculptures of E. Zelenak revealed the use of biomorphic forms built on the basis of repeating modules. D. Samil's constructed canvases of folded bright planes are mentioned. The article demonstrates the importance of the phenomenon of nonconformism in the Ukrainian artistic environment. Certain peculiarities of the application of theoretical developments in the figurative and plastic author's models of contemporary Ukrainian artists have been highlighted. A number of artistic interpretations and stylistic features in the formation of plastic art in Ukraine in the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries have been revealed. The works of Ukrainian and diaspora artists who worked and continue to work in the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries in Ukraine and abroad, namely R. Kostyniuk, E. Zelenak, D. Samyla, S. Savchenko, I. Stefiuk, V. Andrushko, Y. Titenkov, N. Symotiuk, D. Shavala, A. Savchuk, and I. Solovyov, have been considered.
The research objective is to identify and investigate the influence of structuralism on the formation of contemporary Ukrainian plastic art, as well as to analyze the works of artists who used the structural method in their works.
Research methodology. The methods of observation, comparison, analogy, experiment, formal analysis and synthesis have been used.
Relevance and scientific novelty. In Ukrainian art history, the concept of "structuralism" in three-dimensional structures, sculpture, and plastic art remains poorly understood and requires a deeper study of the connections between the artist's intentions, materials, as well as the historical and cultural context in which the artwork has been created. The research of the influence of structuralism on contemporary Ukrainian sculpture and other forms of plastic art, which are formed on such basic principles of the structural method as code, sign, structure, symbol, and color, reveals a new critical approach to the interpretation of creative experiments as an identifier of a completely new artistic paradigm.