Ilya Kabakov




* 1933
in Russia








Ilya Kabakov was born in Dnepropetrovsk, Soviet Union, in 1933. He studied at the VA Surikov Art Academy in Moscow, and began his career as a children's book illustrator during the 1950's. He was part of a group of Conceptual artists in Moscow who worked outside the official Soviet art system. In 1985 he received his first solo show exhibition at Dina Vierny Gallery, Paris, and he moved to the West two years later taking up a six months residency at Kunstverein Graz, Austria. In 1988 Kabakov began working with his future wife Emilia (they were to be married in 1992). From this point onwards, all their work was collaborative, in different proportions according to the specific project involved. Today Kabakov is recognized as the most important Russian artist to have emerged in the late 20th century. His installations speak as much about conditions in post-Stalinist Russia as they do about the human condition universally.

Emilia Kabakov (nee Kanevsky) was born in Dnepropetrovsk, Soviet Union, in 1945. She attended the Music College in Irkutsk in addition to studying Spanish language and literature at the Moscow University. She immigrated to Israel in 1973, and moved to New York in 1975, where she worked as a curator and art dealer.
Their work has been shown in such venues as the Museum of Modern Art, the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Documenta IX, at the Whitney Biennial in 1997 and the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg among others. In 1993 they represented Russia at the 45th Venice Biennale with their installation The Red Pavilion. The Kabakovs have also completed many important public commissions throughout Europe and have received a number of honors and awards, including the Oscar Kokoschka Preis, Vienna, in 2002 and the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, Paris, in 1995.
The Kabakovs live and work in Long Island.
Exhibitions
  • 1986 Am Rande, Düsseldorfer Kunstverein
  • 1988 10 Alben, Portikus, Frankfurt am Main
  • 1989 Das Schiff, die Kommunalwohnung, Kunsthalle Zürich
  • 1989 Who are these little men, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia
  • 1990 He lost his mind, ran away, naked, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York
  • 1991 52 entretiens dans la cuisine communautaire, (Wanderausstellung), Art Transit, Marseille
  • 1992 Das Leben der Fliegen, Kölner Kunstverein
  • 1992 Illustration as a way to survive (Wanderausstellung), Courtrai, Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten,
  • 1992 DOCUMENTA IX in Kassel
  • 1993 Het Grote Archief, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
  • 1993 Incident at the Museum of Water Music, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
  • 1993 NOMA oder der Kreis der Moskauer Konzeptualisten, Kunsthalle Hamburg
  • 1994 Operations room, (Wanderausstellung), Nykytaiteen Museum, Helsinki
  • 1995 The disconnected railway car, Deichtorhallen Hamburg
  • 1996 On the roof, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brüssel
  • 1996 Ilya Kabakov - Der Lesesaal, Deichtorhallen Hamburg
  • 1997 Skulptur.Projekte: Blickst du in den Himmel, Aaseewiese Münster
  • 2000 Between the cinema and a hard palace, Tate Modern, London
  • 2000 Palace of Projects, Public Art Fund, New York
  • 2001 Palace of Projects, ständige Ausstellung im Salzlager der Kokerei Zollverein, Essen
  • 2001 Tacita Dean – Kunstpreis Aachen 2002, Ludwig Forum Aachen
  • 2003 50. Biennale von Venedig
  • 2004 Ilya und Emilia Kabakov – The incident in the museum and other installations, Eremitage, St. Petersburg
  • 2005 1. Moskau Biennale
  • 2006 RUSSIA! Guggenheim Museum, New York und Bilbao
  • 2007 Under the snow, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund
  • 2007 Die totale Aufklärung: Moskauer Konzeptkunst 1960-1990, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt
  • 2010 Ilya Kabakov – ORBIS PICTUS - Der Kinderbuchillustrator als eine soziale Figur, Kunsthaus Zug, Schweiz
  • 2010 Ruhr-Atoll, Baldeneysee, Essen
  • 2012 A Return to Painting. Eine Rückkehr zur Malerei. 1960-2011,
 Upcoming Exhibitions 
January 19 - March 3, 2012
Lia Rumma Gallery. Milan Italy. Solo Exhibition + Catalog
January 29 - May 6, 2012
The Sprengel Museum, Hannover. Retrospective: "Return to Painting"
February 5 - March 11, 2012
Deweer Gallery - Otegem, Belgium. "The Drawing Room" Group Exh.
May 11 - July 11, 2012
Havana Biennale - The Ship of Tolerance
May 25 - September 16, 2012
Henie-Onstad Art Center, Oslo, Norway. "Return to Painting"
June - August 2012
Museu De Arte Do Rio Grande Do Sul, Porto Allegre, Brazil.
October 2012
Deutsches Historical Museum - Berlin. "Critique and Crisis. Art in Europe Since 1945. Exhibition to travel to The National Museum, Warsaw; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tallinn; Palazzo Reale, Milan.
December 1, 2012 - April 1, 2013
Vanabbemuseum, Eindhoven, Holland: Ilya & Emilia Kabakov - El Lissitsky
June 2013
Grand Palais, Paris: "Monumenta"