Ilya Kabakov (b. 1933, Ukraine, USSR) emigrated from Moscow to the U.S. in 1989. As the leader of the underground, vanguard Moscow Conceptualists Circle (NOMA) during the 1970s and 1980s, he is widely regarded as the most important, living former Soviet artist.  ArtNews magazine called him one of the world’s “10 best living artists.” He is one of the few ex-Soviet artists to have successfully translated the meaning of his artwork from a Soviet/Russian context into an international one. Kabakov’s “total” installations, for which he has garnered international acclaim, have poignantly and candidly addressed the degradations of everyday Soviet life through the creation of quasi-fictional/autobiographical characters who inhabit illusionistic, life-size spaces. 

Trained as a classical pianist in the Soviet Union, Emilia Kabakov (b. 1945, Ukraine, USSR) emigrated to Israel in 1973 and then to the United States in 1975.  For many years, she was an antiques dealer in New York City. Ilya and Emilia began collaborating on art projects in 1990 and married in 1994.