Biography

Ilya Kabakov was born in Dnepropetrovsk, Soviet Union, in 1933. In 1951, he studied graphic arts at Moscow’s Surikov Institute, graduating in 1957. Due to the political climate, the young artist was unable to show his work to the public, as only artists who were members of the Union of Soviet Artists enjoyed this privilege. In 1959, however, he became a “candidate member” of the Union of Soviet Artists, which offered him several advantages: a studio, a decent salary and work as an illustrator of children’s books. In 1965, he…

Ilya Kabakov was born in Dnepropetrovsk, Soviet Union, in 1933. In 1951, he studied graphic arts at Moscow’s Surikov Institute, graduating in 1957. Due to the political climate, the young artist was unable to show his work to the public, as only artists who were members of the Union of Soviet Artists enjoyed this privilege.
In 1959, however, he became a “candidate member” of the Union of Soviet Artists, which offered him several advantages: a studio, a decent salary and work as an illustrator of children’s books. In 1965, he exhibited abroad for the first time, in Italy, where he presented his Shower Series, interpreted as a critique of Soviet culture. From then on, Kabakov was no longer allowed to practice, and worked under a pseudonym.
Kabakov wanted to convey to the world his experience of life in the Soviet Union. Using a wide variety of media – albums, paintings, installations – he attempted to tell a story: that of a society that had lost all notion of reality. After working on series of large-format paintings, the artist gradually incorporated texts into his representations, enriching the meaning of the work before replacing it. The conceptual nature of these texts denounces a Russian society devoid of any logic, and they engage in a direct dialogue with the viewer, who finds himself disconcerted and concerned.
In the early 70s, Kabakov met Dina Vierny, who was visiting Moscow. Eager to help and promote artists who did not conform to the plastic discipline imposed by socialist realism, Dina Vierny packed her suitcase with works by Ilya Kabakov, Erik Boulatov and Vladimir Yankilevsky. She exhibited all three in her Saint-Germain-des-Prés gallery under the title Moscow 1973.

In 1985, Dina devotes her first monographic exhibition to him. In 1987, Ilya Kabakov left Russia. Dina Vierny set up a studio for him in her country house, where in 1991 he created the Red Wagon, which sums up the history of twentieth-century Russia, as well as the installation In the community kitchen, created in situ and now conserved at the Fondation Dina Vierny – Musée Maillol.

In 1992, Kabakov flew to New York, where his dealer Ronald Feldman presented the installation The man who flew into space – acquired a few years later by the Centre Pompidou.

Since 1993, he and his wife Emilia have been developing increasingly complex installations in the United States, which are celebrated worldwide. At the 2014 Monumenta, at the Grand Palais, they presented The Strange City, a form of utopia and a global reflection on the way we think about art, culture, everyday life, our present and our future.
Kabakov was a great success, and exhibited in the world’s leading museums and events: Museum of Modern Art, New York (1991), Centre Pompidou (1996), Venice Biennale (1993), Whitney Biennial (1997), Moscow Garage Museum (2008).
Ilya Kabakov died at his home on Long Island on May 27, 2023 at the age of 89.

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