Ilya Kabakov (born 1933) is an artist of note in two distinctly polar disciplines. While living in the Soviet Union for 30 years, he was a well-known, albeit officially sanctioned, children's book illustrator. He was simultaneously amassing a substantial body of unofficial avant-garde work. Since leaving the Soviet Union in 1988, he has been prolific; he is now considered the foremost post-Stalinist Russian artist. His prime means of artistic expression has been sprawling installations largely based on Soviet-related themes.

"By any reckoning Kabakov's career has bridged an exceptional variety of situations and concerns," wrote Robert Storr in Art in America. "He remains better known in Europe (where he was featured in the last Venice Biennale) than in America, where he now resides. His ideas and observations raise significant questions about the development and future of installation art---which remains his principal artistic form---and about our current esthetic horizons."

Studied Art by Accident...