Ilya Kabakov, Offset-Faksimiles der Bildgeschichte »Sitting-in-the-closet Primakov« (1994)
Gina Pane, Azione sentimentale (1973)
1998 Kabakov Pane a.o.
10 April to 5 July 1998
Kabakov, Pane, a.o.
Reencounter with the Unknown – Part 11
The exhibitions in 1998 all fall under the heading of illustrated books and comic strips. Before setting out to convey an extensive presentation of faith and knowledge in the Middle Ages by major works of art from the Cologne Cathedral Library from August onwards, we would like to invite you to focus your attention on the strange comic strips of Ilya Kabakov. The Russian artist, who achieved fame with his room installations, has edited ten facsimile folios in recent years, in which he introduces ten different characters, drawn in detail and told with much humour. There is the story of Komarov, who flees from the world, or the decorator Malygin, who has a phobia about standing in the middle of a room; Kabakov reports about Surikov, who suffers from seeing only a little bit of the world at a time and about Primakov, who imagines what life would be like if only… Somehow these figures seem familiar to us. Maybe because they ask questions we ourselves would ask? – Melancholy and the longing for something lost are characteristic of the fifteen photos with which Gina Pane documented her performance “Azione sentimentale” in 1973. In this “sentimental” or “melancholic” action she circles around the feelings of two women and the relationship between mother and daughter. The artist’s introverted game deals with vulnerability and the presence of death, of the loss involved but also with the living on of feeling.
Kabakov, Pane, a.o.
Reencounter with the Unknown – Part 11
The exhibitions in 1998 all fall under the heading of illustrated books and comic strips. Before setting out to convey an extensive presentation of faith and knowledge in the Middle Ages by major works of art from the Cologne Cathedral Library from August onwards, we would like to invite you to focus your attention on the strange comic strips of Ilya Kabakov. The Russian artist, who achieved fame with his room installations, has edited ten facsimile folios in recent years, in which he introduces ten different characters, drawn in detail and told with much humour. There is the story of Komarov, who flees from the world, or the decorator Malygin, who has a phobia about standing in the middle of a room; Kabakov reports about Surikov, who suffers from seeing only a little bit of the world at a time and about Primakov, who imagines what life would be like if only… Somehow these figures seem familiar to us. Maybe because they ask questions we ourselves would ask? – Melancholy and the longing for something lost are characteristic of the fifteen photos with which Gina Pane documented her performance “Azione sentimentale” in 1973. In this “sentimental” or “melancholic” action she circles around the feelings of two women and the relationship between mother and daughter. The artist’s introverted game deals with vulnerability and the presence of death, of the loss involved but also with the living on of feeling.