Ukrainian American conceptual artist Ilya Kabakov died on the night of Saturday May 27 at the age of 89, his family has confirmed.
Taking as subject his experiences of life under the Soviet Union, Kabakov’s works never shied away from addressing themes of totalitarian repression and thwarted dreams, but were always underlined by a fantastical quality, offering hope of a more utopian future. During the last three decades of his life, he formed a close artistic partnership with his wife, Emilia.
Since 1983, Kabakov has been particularly famous for his “total installations”, a genre of fully immersive environments which he pioneered. Together, the Kabakovs created more than 200 of these large-scale works, which often convey dramatic narratives via a cast of fictional characters.
The oldest and best known example is The man who flew into space from his apartment (1985), produced while Kabakov was still working in his secret Moscow attic studio. The work recreates a typically shabby bedroom in a communal apartment, a sort of Soviet residence that housed several households. The small, oppressive space presents propaganda photos stuck to the wall, exemplifying the mastery of the artist to create a specific atmosphere and place.
Ilya Kabakov, The man who flew into space from his apartment (1985). Photo by Igor Russak/NurPhoto via Getty Images.
Surprisingly, however, viewers can see a large hole in the ceiling. The accompanying texts give the accounts of several neighbors, who recall how former resident Nikolaev dreamed of traveling into space and escaping his oppressed existence. It looks like he’s finally succeeded, catapulting himself away from that grim reality into a distant, celestial realm that audiences must imagine.
When the work debuted at the Ronald Feldman Gallery in 1988, it immediately caused a stir, cementing Kabakov’s reputation as one of the most important Soviet artists in history.
Ilya Iosifovich Kabakov was born in the city of Dnipropetrovsk in 1933, when Ukraine was part of the former USSR. His interest in art came naturally to him as a young boy, and even when he was forced to evacuate to Samarkand, Uzbekistan during World War II, he continued to attend the Academy of Fine Arts. Leningrad art. At the age of 18, he enrolled at the Surikov Art Institute in Moscow to study graphic design and illustration. After joining the official Union of Soviet Artists in 1959, Kabakov earned his living producing designs for children’s books in the style of state-sanctioned socialist realism.
Privately, however, he associated with an unofficial, underground group of conceptual artists, the Stretensy Boulevard Group, and met like-minded thinkers like artists Erik Bulatov and Oleg Vasiliev and philosopher and critic Boris Groys. Around this time he began making satirical works of Soviet society and experimented with new media such as assemblage. After a few decades, the worlds he was building began to roll off the pages, and in 1983 he began making his famous installations.
Eventually his works began to be exhibited in the West, where they offered a first glimpse of life behind the Iron Curtain, beginning with a 1985 exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bern. In 1987 he was able to move to Austria for a scholarship at the Graz Kunstverein and just a year later he resettled in the United States.
Artists Ilya and Emilia Kabakov pose with their work The Ship of Tolerance at the Miami Childrens Museum on December 3, 2011 in Miami, Florida. Photo: Larry Marano/Getty Images.
“Meeting Ilya when he immigrated to Austria from Russia made a deep impression on me,” his longtime dealer Thaddaeus Ropac told Artnet News. “I learned so much about concept art from him, and the sheer power of his installations was truly groundbreaking. I had the privilege of working with him for over 35 years.
Shortly after arriving in New York, buoyed by the buzz surrounding his exhibition at the Ronald Feldman Gallery, Kabakov met curator and dealer Emilia Kanevsky (née Lekach). He had known her as a child since she was his niece. They married in 1992 and have enjoyed more than three decades of fruitful collaboration in their home and studio on Long Island. Highlights of this partnership include Documenta in 1992, their representation of Russia at the Venice Biennale in 1993, the inclusion of The red pavilion at the Whitney Biennial in 1997, one of the first solo surveys dedicated to a living artist at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg in 2004, and major retrospectives at the Tate Modern and the Hirshhorn in 2017.
A philanthropic spirit, the Kabakovs also launched the humanitarian art project The ship of tolerance, a ship whose sails are decorated with children’s drawings. It was first conceived in Siwa, Egypt, but has since been shown at the Venice Biennale, Sharjah Biennale, Havana Biennale, as well as institutions in Rome, London, Chicago and Zug. in Swiss.
Kabakov is survived by his wife, daughter Galina, grandchildren Joseph, Orliana, Aurora, Anja and great-grandchildren Anastasia and Maxim. A statement released by his family describes Kabakov as a “great artist, philosopher, beloved husband, cherished father and adoring grandfather” and confirms that he died peacefully, “surrounded by his loved ones”. A public memorial will be announced shortly.
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