Existing comment:
Considered the most important Russian artists to emerge in the late 20th century, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov (b. Dnepropetrovsk, Soviet Union, 1933, 1945, respectively) have spent the past few decades exploring the themes and aesthetic of utopia. Working collaboratively since 1989, the Kabakovs have produced a wide range of artistic projects that exist within that imagined context, including architectural maquettes, painting, drawing, sculpture, and large-scale installations.
The models in this exhibition relate to large-scale public art projects, some of which were fully realized, while others were not. Though these models are meant to reveal the imaginative process through which the artists construct their full-scale installations, they all function independent of their larger counterparts, operating as miniature dreamscapes that conjure a shared idea of utopia. Incorporating aspects of literature, mythology, and history, these works speak to both the lived experience of a post-Stalinist Russia as well as an overarching understanding of the universal human experience. ... |