Art Market as a Factor in Shaping the Artistic Environment of Ukraine: Institutional Foundations and Development Prospects

The purpose of the article. The article is devoted to the influence of the leading persons and institutions of the Ukrainian art market on the formation of the circle of the most famous figures in the artistic environment, the dominant trends in the artistic life of the country, the tastes of the public, as well as the growing influence of representatives of the art business on the activities of state institutions in the field of culture. The methodology of the work is based on the application of methods of observation, analysis and generalisation, as well as the structural-functional method, considering the art market and the artistic environment as closely related social phenomena. A sociological approach to art as a collective activity is applied, in which not only artists are involved, but a large network of other participants in cultural life and the art market. The scientific novelty of the work consists in the study of the role of local art business in shaping the structure of the contemporary artistic environment of Ukraine. For the first time, the question of how decisive is the influence of the participants of the Ukrainian art market (primarily – art dealers, collectors and institutions related to them) on the formation of a certain hierarchical ranking of artists in the Ukrainian art environment on representatives of the mainstream and the rest of other, less well-known figures was highlighted, a significant part of which is, so to speak, on the periphery of cultural life; the impact of the art market on public tastes and the activities of state bodies in the field of culture is also outlined. Until now, the topic of close interdependence of the art world and the art market has been avoided in the Ukrainian art history discourse. Conclusions. The art market selects artists who become the most famous figures in Ukrainian artistic life and get the opportunity to represent the country at the international level. The art market shapes public tastes; the most successful participants of the art market (primarily art dealers and collectors) seek to participate in the formation of state cultural policy by integrating into state institutions. In accordance with world trends, the private sector will gain more and more influence in the modern cultural life of the country, which will have both a number of advantages for the development of the Ukrainian art market and artistic life, as well as certain, potentially possible, disadvantages.