Ilya Kabakov Quotes & Sayings

Fear is the reason for making art. It is a means to freedom. — Ilya Kabakov

A lot of artists were members of the artistic union. It gave you the possibility to buy paints, canvases, brushes, even the possibility to get a studio if you had the money to build it. It also gave you the possibility to make your living by making official art and then you would get a lot of "official" commissions: portraits, paintings, murals, etc. — Ilya Kabakov

Don't believe Wikipedia, not everything written there is true. The Soviet Artists Union was not a communist party organization. It was a professional union, which did not protect you from the government if the government decided you were the enemy, but it did give you the possibility to work in your profession and survive. — Ilya Kabakov

For me the artworld is like a huge river, which began somewhere in the past and keeps flowing towards the future. — Ilya Kabakov

The usual relationship between an artist and his painting is like the relationship with the father, or a husband's with his wife. But mine is a relationship with a stranger ... with the chance acquaintance. — Ilya Kabakov