Ilya Kabakov

Based in New York, Ilya Kabatov is considered the most important Russian artist to have emerged in the late-20th century. His installations are after akin to theatrical “mise-en-scenes”, presenting a cramped communal apartment or a flooded art museum as though they are comedies on human frustration and doomed aspirations. Boris Groys, art critic and philosopher, surveys the artist’s long career, analyzing its philosophical and formal dimensions in terms of art history, as well as the artist’s biography. David A. Ross, Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, discusses the artist’s bridging of eastern and western contemporary art practices. Curator at the Tate Gallery of Modern art, Iwona Blazwick concentrates on the artist’s contribution to the Skulptur Projekte Munster 1997, “Looking up. Reading the words”. Anton Checkov’s short story, “The Steppe”, mirrors Kabakov’s own, uniquely Russian blend of irony and tragedy. The artist’s writings, which include a short text on contemporary art in the former Soviet Union, an illustrated fairy-tale and an article on Cezanne complete this monograph. The book is part of a series of studies of important artists of the late-20th century. Each title offers a comprehensive survey of the artist’s work, providing analyses and multiple perspectives on contemporary art and its inspiration.