Characteristics of the development of mural art in Kharkiv
Authors: Gavryliuk Borys 
Published: December 2023

Background. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the development of mural art. Kharkiv is a special city, full of monumental urban buildings, heavy walls, and free space. This is a unique territory for the mural creating and street art development. Since the late 90s of the 20-century activists, street artists, and sometimes amateurs of the wall business were the first to create urban art objects with the experimental way, following the example of their western colleagues. The urban space of the city is a platform for the popularization and development of mural art without institutional influence. The paradigm of activating sociocultural processes in our time became the outcome of visual art beyond the frames of the galleries and museums into the public space. This explains the background of the research problem. In three decades, monotonous architecture has turned into colorful art objects. The appearance of graffiti and murals has become a globalized form of creative interaction between artists and society. Murals are symbols encoded by deep socio-political and cultural genesis. They prompt viewers to self-development and improvement, despite their status in the global pyramid of life.
Objectives. The objectives of this study are to determine the specific and peculiarity of mural art development in Kharkiv. The artistic approach allows forming critical descriptions of basic samples. Therefore, the detailed analysis and interpretation of unique wall panels appear like the main purpose. It is important to prove that mural art is a vector of contemporary art development and the way of influence for sociocultural processes in public space. Differentiate definitions of appellations like "mural art", "graffiti", "street art", "urban art" in the context of drawing parallels between Ukrainian and foreign art-science literature. An important driving layer of information is unexplored in the art-science works. The theoretical comprehension of mural art is at the stage of formation without a solid basis.
Methods. Classical methods were used for the research. Analysis of the literature, short historical overview allowed to form a basis. Digital imaging tools and Worldwide Internet Web has created online galleries, platforms, touristic maps, discussions. This way, artists find new ways to promote their work without institutional influence.
The narrative analysis of the main Kharkiv’s murals allows determining mural art as a separate form of art and socio-cultural process.
There was used a comparative method in the article. Street artists are using different media, technical applications, have divers stylistic features. Every large mural is encoded and differs not only with size, artistic value, idea, etc. but with a context. Art critics, government, and citizens perceive this art in different ways.
With the help of the empirical method, was proved the influence of mural art on the social, cultural, and political processes in the country.
Theoretical and deductive methods were used to reproduce the chronology and classification of Kharkiv’s murals. The article analysis from the solid. Works that are provocative for the society, were created without permission, commercial projects, creative murals, created within the festivals and initiatives, etc. The general blocks analyze the work of the prominent artists and describe the best samples from the analytic point of view.
Results. The results of the research support the idea that the mural art in Kharkiv and Ukraine has not been studied in art-science works at all. The theoretical comprehension of mural art is at the stage of formation without a solid basis. Content is based on media sources like interviews and news. Murals and graffiti are often destroyed by natural, mechanical, or human intervention. Therefore, photo and video fixation on electronic resources allow to carry out a detailed analysis of works. Online street art galleries, festivals and project pages, artists' websites, and art critic blogs all provide access to informational material for processing. The thorough selection of the most valuable finds allows revealing the socio-political themes of the art, cultural, and psychological aspects. National scientists carry out a comparative analysis of graffiti. A meticulous explanation of the semantics and symbolism of urban art is reflected in the works of S. Kais. Prevailing studies of urban art are based on the original basis of Western theorists. Prominent are works of G. Shaw and
R. Gastman, who describe street-art of all continents. Authors compare related graffiti, street art objects, and classify them by historiography, style, and theme. The British curator and sociologist R. Shakter has systematized the best samples of the World's mural art, introducing new appellations relating to neo-muralism, which, in his view, is different from monumental realistic paintings. He analyzes the creative achievements of leading Ukrainian muralists. The uniqueness of mural art is proved as a special form of contemporary art, which relies on transformation, multiculturalism, and the exit of visual art out of the gallery space. Urban artist’ projects promote the development of Kharkiv city gentrification.
The article also supports the opinion of the uniqueness of mural art, as a special form of contemporary art, which is based on transformation, multiculturalism. Urban artist’ projects promote the development of Kharkiv city gentrification.
Conclusions. The present results are signiﬁcant in the field of research and the development of contemporary art. The development of mural art in Kharkiv and other cities of Ukraine deserves intent attention. A wide selection of artistic media, changes in ideological views, values, purposes, serving, technological progress, and many other factors have become catalysts in the process of forming and promotion of muralism as a complete form of contemporary art.
A large number of realistic compositions means a powerful academic school and professionalism of artists. Fine detailing attracts by perfect realization.
The results of the research are important for the socio-cultural significance and psychological, political influence of street-art on the ideology of citizens. The urban space of Kharkiv is popular and unique for street-artists not only in Ukraine but also in Western Europe and America. Every year, dozens of new high-quality murals appear in a progressive vector of quantity and quality. Therefore, it is important to deduce the evolution of Kharkiv's mural art in the comparative of urban art of other major cities of Ukraine.