Ilya Kabakov is recognized as the most important Russian artist to have emerged in the late 20th century. His work speaks as much about conditions in post-Stalinist Russia as they do about the human condition universally. Edelman Arts is pleased to announce The Study of Kabakov, a survey of works on paper from 1960 -1985 by Ilya Kabakov, renowned for his large-scale public installations with his partner Emilia Kabakov. The exhibition marks the first time that these foundational works have been exhibited in the United States and provides insight into both the artist’s sense of humor, profundity and purpose. Three albums from the 10 Characters series and a comprehensive reference library will allow for an in-depth study of Kabakov’s complex conceptual world. The exhibition opens Tuesday, October 18 and runs through December 23.

Ilya Kabakov is recognized as the most important Russian artist to have emerged in the late 20th century. His work speaks as much about conditions in post-Stalinist Russia as they do about the human condition universally. Edelman Arts is pleased to announce The Study of Kabakov, a survey of works on paper from 1960 -1985 by Ilya Kabakov, renowned for his large-scale public installations with his partner Emilia Kabakov. The exhibition marks the first time that these foundational works have been exhibited in the United States and provides insight into both the artist’s sense of humor, profundity and purpose. Three albums from the 10 Characters series and a comprehensive reference library will allow for an in-depth study of Kabakov’s complex conceptual world. The exhibition opens Tuesday, October 18 and runs through December 23.

“Drawings are the entryway into the Kabakov world. They lay the foundation to the concept of story-telling, which is an essential component to the work as a whole,” comments Asher Edelman, Founder of Edelman Arts. The works on paper are the origin of every painting and installation for which Ilya and Emilia Kabakov have earned their international acclaim. Intimately scaled, the works date from 1960 – 1985 and lead the viewer through Kabakov’s career as an artist and as a member of the Stretensky Boulevard Group in the hostile Soviet environment of the 1960s to his first solo exhibition in Paris in 1985.

During the 1970s, Kabakov created the 10 Characters, a series of albums that playfully suggest ten positions from which Homo Sovieticus can react to their world including ten psychological attitudes, ten perspectives on emptiness, ten parodies of the aesthetic traditions through which Kabakov evolved his vocabulary and ten aspects of his own personality. The Study of Kabakov will feature three of these albums in edition, Sitting-In-The-Closet Primakov, The Decorator Malygin and The Flying Komarov.

The Kabakovs’ work is included in the permanent collections of celebrated institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Tate, London; and the Centre Pompidou, Paris; and has been shown in venues including the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Documenta IX at the Whitney Biennial in 1997 and the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, amongst others. In 1993 they represented Russia at the 45th Biennale di Venezia with their installation The Red Pavilion. The Kabakovs have also completed many important public commissions throughout Europe and have received a number of honors and awards, including the Oscar Kokoschka Preis, Vienna, in 2002 and the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, Paris, in 1995. By 2004, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov became the first living Russian artists to have their work exhibited in the Hermitage Museum.