
Ilya Kabakov (1933–2023)
Ilya Kabakov, a giant of Russian Conceptualism, died May 27 at his home on Long Island, New York. He was eighty-nine. News of his death was announced by his family. Widely considered to be one of the most important artists of the Soviet Union, Kabakov created installations that explored the mundanity of life in the Communist state. He made many of these in secret, even while he labored publicly as an illustrator of children’s books. Kabakov’s installations were harshly critical of the totalitarian regime that inspired them, pointing up what his wife and, from 1997, collaborator Emilia Kabakov