Russian vernacular art (or yard art) has a specific form. One on the types of such art is now known as “JKH-art” (from Russian this abbreviation means “housing service”), that is the small art-objects which were installed by the residents of the city blocks. This report concerns the images and the technologies which are proper to yard art in contemporary Russia. We have inferred that this kind of urban art is not associated completely with the traditional applied art. The trends of yard art development are determined by two contradictions. The first of them is related with the variety of creative activities practiced by the inhabitants of contemporary Russian cities. The second opposition between vernacular and public art demonstrates the difference of esthetic ideals proper to various social groups of city residents. The main part of these residents treats the professional public art as an aggressive form of hostile invasion to the appropriated area (unlike the practices we have mentioned above as a vernacular art).

We have outlined some directions for the development of vernacular art studies:

1. to determine the sources of contemporary yard art images and construction technologies;
2. to explore how the images of vernacular art substitute the traditional ones of applied art;

to identify the degree of mutual influence between the vernacular art and the bricolage as a usage of industrial and household waste products for creating new implements.