Ukrainian New Wave — a set of creative directions that arose in Ukraine in the period from the late 1980s to the early 2000s in reaction to turbulent socio-political events of that time such as collapse of the USSR, perestroika, Declaration of Independence of Ukraine. It is one of the most influential manifestation of Ukrainian postmodernism, which is characterized by a variety of works and groups of both destructive and constructive nature, aimed at both strengthening the features of fine arts and moving away from it towards actionism and replacing traditional art with the latest technologies. Bright polystylistism Ukrainian New Wave originated in the previous period Ukrainian underground art, which arose spontaneously, without censorship and ideological restrictions.

Ukrainian underground was a movement in Ukraine's Soviet period within Soviet nonconformist art from the late 1950s through the early 1990s. This art form was banned by several totalitarian countries of Eastern Europe and the USSR. It was also known under other names, such as unofficial art, nonconformist, and dissident art. It ended due to the Perestroika reform movement, which led to Ukrainian independence in 1991. After the Soviet Union collapsed, similar counter-cultural processes developed under the names of "alternative" or "marginal" art. The avant-garde ideas of underground art were picked up and developed by the next generation of the Ukrainian New Wave.