The project brings together works created in 2014–15. All of them are the result of the artist’s reflections on the question of what exactly makes a human being human. This something is the “inner caveman” within each of us, something sincere, vulnerable, and primordial.

The search for the caveman is an attempt to return to an archetypal understanding of the very essence of being human. In Anton’s view, primordiality is this essence. This means that every child is essentially a caveman, free from conventions imposed by society, without self-awareness — a blank slate.

The works presented in the project allow each viewer to follow the artist’s path of reflection and trace how, from the idea of a caveman hiding in the depths of the cave-like basement of the Municipal Gallery, he arrives at the image of the caveman as a child. At the very end of his search, the artist asks whether anything can change once the caveman has finally been found.

Anton Tkachenko studied at the Kharkiv National University of Civil Engineering and Architecture and has participated in group exhibitions in Ukraine and abroad (in Portugal, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and China). He is a graphic artist, painter, and creator of installations. He lives and works in Kharkiv.