There are many Russian artists, amongst them is Ilya Kabakov. He was named by ArtNews as one of the “ten greatest living artists” and we totally agree with this statement. If you didn’t know him already, this is the opportunity to learn more about ‘the late 20th century’s most important Russian artist‘.

Kabakov has completed 155 installations in 15 years and you can see his work in the most prestigious galleries and museums in the world:  the Museum of Modern Art, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC and at the Whitney Biennial in 1997.

About Ilya Kabakov and his wife, Emilia, from his official website:

Ilya and Emilia Kabakov are Russian-born, American-based artists that collaborate on environments which fuse elements of the everyday with those of the conceptual. While their work is deeply rooted in the Soviet social and cultural context in which the Kabakovs came of age, their work still attains a universal significance…

Here are Kabakov upcoming exhibitions:

• May 14.2010  –  Sept 26.2011
MACBA, Barcelona, “L’internationale” Group Exhibition, Catalogue

• June 16  –  26.2011
Prague Quadrennial Of Performance, Design And Space, Prague,Czech Republic, Group Exhibition

And traveling retrospective venue:

• 2011 – The National Gallery Of Scotland, Edinburg, Scotland
• 2011 – Henie-Onstad Art Center, Norway
• 2012 –  Sprengel Museum,  Hannover, Germany

Besides his installations, Ilya Kabakov’s most famous and influential works are his albums from the 10 Characters series. They are ollections of drawings and text assembled in “books” of 30 to 100 pages each. He produced them in the early 1970s as an unofficial artist working in Moscow.

Below: The Ship Of Siwa / The Ship of Tolerance. See full description.