ILYA KABAKOV and OLEG KULIK--these artists generate the most copy. Kabakov has been internationally established for many years, and the younger Kulik is now making his mark outside Russia and Ukraine. At a symposium, a curator portrayed Kabakov as a man dressed in a suit standing at a glass door. He has meticulously devised a plan for breaking into the contemporary art world. He knocks and the glass door slides open.

Kulik presents himself at the door in the guise of a dog, barking and snarling. His raw madness commands attention, and the door to international recognition opens for him too.

"No," an artist objects, "Kulik's performance is totally controlled and rational. It is export art. Kulik panders to the western fantasy of the uncivilized Russian, the wild man from the unexplored steppes of Asia. It is Kabakov who is unplanned, intuitive."

Such opposing views cannot find a common ground. But the antagonists do come together on one issue: As they put it, "the bus of contemporary art is full. A ticket to international acclaim is hard to come by."

The artists of Russia and Ukraine are a battle-hardened lot. They survived the repression of the Brezhnev era, and lived through the maelstrom changes of glasnost and perestroika. They are well equipped to tackle the international art arena and make their vision known.