Illya Tkachenko

I explore the theme of memory and everyday life, using the language of symbols, and reflect on the experience of living through the full-scale war in Ukraine. I am interested in both daily life and human experience. 

In my works, I combine organic, plastically deformed, and geometrized forms with individual naturalistic features of the human figure. This combination allows me to create compositions where different principles of form-making are at play. 

Space within the form plays an important role in my works. I use openings and slits not only as a formal device but as a means of enhancing expression and conveying a person's inner state, pain, and sense of loss. Emptiness becomes an active part of the sculpture and acquires symbolic meaning. 

Figures in my works are often in a state of motion. Their interaction creates its own rhythm, in which material form and the space between it exist as equal elements of the composition. Through this, I view sculpture not only as an object but as an interaction of form, space, and memory.