Ilya + Emilia Kabakov: paintings about paintings

Ilya & Emilia Kabakov’s exhibition Paintings about Paintings will resemble an outdated and rundown museum, incorporating never-before-seen paintings, interactive works and installation. This will mark their first exhibition in Texas in over 20 years. 

Paintings about Paintings will focus on Ilya & Emilia Kabakovs’ most recent body of work, comprised of  twenty large-scale paintings created over the past seven years (some of which never-before-seen), sculptures, public projects, interactive works and installation. The exhibition will present a series that addresses issues and stimuluses of theatre, architecture and music, demonstrating the breadth of the artists’ practice. 

Based in North Fork, NY, and working together as a husband-wife team for the past three decades, Ilya & Emilia Kabakov have defined and pushed Eastern European conceptualism to epic levels. Their large-scale installations and paintings seamlessly merge both reality and myth to create hyper-theatrical environments. By integrating the visual culture of the former Soviet Union from the 1950s to '70s into the traditional lexicon of art history, their work addresses universal ideas of utopia, fantasy and hope, as well as fear and oppression.

Their presentation at Dallas Contemporary marks the duo’s first exhibition in Texas since the Chinati Foundation installed School No. 6 in 1993. The exhibition is curated by Dallas Contemporary Executive Director Peter Doroshenko and will be accompanied by an exhibition catalogue designed by the artists.

Ilya & Emilia Kabakov: Paintings about Paintings is made possible with lead support from the Timashev Family Foundation and the generous support of Galleria Lia Rumma, Milan/Naples, Thaddaeus Ropac (London - Paris - Salzburg - Seoul), PACE Gallery and Jamie and Robert Soros.