Ilya and Emilia Kabakov: Paintings about Paintings

Themes of theater, architecture and music in the latest multimedia installation from the veteran Russian American duo

For more than three decades, the Russian-born, Long Island-based artists Ilya and Emilia Kabakov (born 1933 and 1945, respectively) have been widely known for their large-scale installations and paintings that merge reality and myth to create hypertheatrical environments. They often accomplish this by integrating the visual culture of the former Soviet Union from the 1950s to '70s--from dreary communal apartments to propaganda art and its highly optimistic depictions of Soviet life--into the lexicon of art history. In doing so, their work addresses universal themes of utopia, fantasy and hope, as well as fear and oppression.
Accompanying the exhibition at Dallas Contemporary, this clothbound volume features their most recent body of work, which resembles an outdated and rundown museum, incorporating never-before-seen paintings, interactive works and installation.