Mike Kelley

(American, 1954–2012)

Mike Kelley was an American artist regarded as one of the most influential members of the Conceptual Art movement. Concerned with abjection, youth, class, and the divide between high and low culture, Kelley’s work was often both playful and grotesque, using found objects like stuffed animals, knickknacks, and child-like drawings in its skeptical investigation of societal norms. Working across disciplines in installations, sculpture, drawings, paintings, and videos, Kelley’s career was both eclectic and prolific. “I think they’re really standardized kinds of repressed things in the culture—embarrassing things, like sexual dysfunction and the scatological,” he once said of his subject matter. “I started seeing throughout my work that a lot of these traditional, low comedy forms and subject matters were operating. I wanted to start to deal with that in a more conscious way.” Born on October 27, 1954 in Wayne, MI, the artist studied at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where he formed the band Destroy All Monsters with fellow visual artist Jim Shaw. His interest in politics and performance carried over into his graduate work at the California Institute of the Arts in the late 1970s, where he studied with John Baldessari and befriended Tony Oursler. Suffering from depression throughout his life, the artist committed suicide on January 31, 2012 in South Pasadena, CA at the age of 57. In 2012, the posthumous retrospective “Mike Kelley: Themes and Variations from 35 Years” opened at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, and travelled to the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, MoMA PS1 in Queens, and finally the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Today, Kelley’s works are held in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Goetz Collection in Munich, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others.

Mike Kelley News

Art & Exhibitions

Best in Show: Here Are the 5 Buzziest Museum Exhibitions Everyone Is Talking About in Paris

Best in Show: Here Are the 5 Buzziest Museum Exhibitions Everyone Is Talking About in Paris

Art & Exhibitions

Too Cute! An Upcoming Show in London Will Unpack the Power of Cuteness With Works by Juliana Huxtable, Wong Ping, and More

by Richard Whiddington

Too Cute! An Upcoming Show in London Will Unpack the Power of Cuteness With Works by Juliana Huxtable, Wong Ping, and More

Hauser and Wirth Announces Its New Paris Gallery's Inaugural Show and Its Debut Director

by Eileen Kinsella

Hauser and Wirth Announces Its New Paris Gallery's Inaugural Show and Its Debut Director

Mike Kelley Artworks

Mike Kelley (787 results)

Missing Time Color Exercise (reversed) No.5..., 2002

Mike Kelley

Missing Time Color Exercise (reversed) No.5..., 2002

Sale Date: June 29, 2016

Auction Closed

Goethe Quote, 1992

Mike Kelley

Goethe Quote, 1992

Sale Date: June 8, 2016

Auction Closed

Test Room Containing Multiple Stimuli Known..., 2001

Mike Kelley

Test Room Containing Multiple Stimuli Known..., 2001

Sale Date: May 22, 2016

Auction Closed

Untitled (Bowling Ball, Stand and Catalogue), 1991

Mike Kelley

Untitled (Bowling Ball, Stand and Catalogue), 1991

Sale Date: May 7, 2016

Auction Closed

Arena #8 (Leopard), 1990

Mike Kelley

Arena #8 (Leopard), 1990

Sale Date: May 8, 2016

Auction Closed

Castrati Satan, 1995

Mike Kelley

Castrati Satan, 1995

Sale Date: May 8, 2016

Auction Closed

THE EEL AND THE CLAM (4 WORKS), 1986

Mike Kelley

THE EEL AND THE CLAM (4 WORKS), 1986

Sale Date: May 12, 2016

Auction Closed

PHLEGM, 1991

Mike Kelley

Sale Date: May 12, 2016

Auction Closed

Memory Ware Flat 1, 2000

Mike Kelley

Memory Ware Flat 1, 2000

Sale Date: May 10, 2016

Auction Closed

La Femme Fatale, 1982

Mike Kelley

La Femme Fatale, 1982

Sale Date: May 11, 2016

Auction Closed

Kappa Scalp, 1985

Mike Kelley

Kappa Scalp, 1985

Sale Date: May 10, 2016

Auction Closed

Memory Ware #37, 2003

Mike Kelley

Memory Ware #37, 2003

Sale Date: May 8, 2016

Auction Closed

BOWLING BALL, BAG, SHIRT & CATALOGUE, 1991

Mike Kelley

BOWLING BALL, BAG, SHIRT & CATALOGUE, 1991

Sale Date: April 23, 2016

Auction Closed

Singing Stop Sign (Señalización de Pare..., 1998

Mike Kelley and Tony Oursler

Singing Stop Sign (Señalización de Pare..., 1998

Sale Date: April 25, 2016

Auction Closed

Three Valleys (set of 12), 1980–1998

Mike Kelley

Three Valleys (set of 12), 1980–1998

Sale Date: April 13, 2016

Auction Closed

White or Yellow, 1987

Mike Kelley

White or Yellow, 1987

Sale Date: February 29, 2016

Auction Closed

Feudal War, 1987

Mike Kelley

Feudal War, 1987

Sale Date: February 29, 2016

Auction Closed

TEST ROOM CONTAINING MULTIPLE STIMULI KNOWN..., 2001

Mike Kelley

TEST ROOM CONTAINING MULTIPLE STIMULI KNOWN..., 2001

Sale Date: March 3, 2016

Auction Closed

UNTITLED, 1989

Mike Kelley

UNTITLED, 1989

Sale Date: March 3, 2016

Auction Closed

PANSY METAL/CLOVERED HOOF [TEN WORKS], 1989

Mike Kelley

PANSY METAL/CLOVERED HOOF [TEN WORKS], 1989

Sale Date: March 3, 2016

Auction Closed

Bowling Ball, Bag, Shirt, and Catalogue, 1991

Mike Kelley

Bowling Ball, Bag, Shirt, and Catalogue, 1991

Sale Date: February 21, 2016

Auction Closed

Unlucky Clover (from Pansy Metal/ Clovered..., 1989

Mike Kelley

Unlucky Clover (from Pansy Metal/ Clovered..., 1989

Sale Date: February 21, 2016

Auction Closed

Untitled (Bowling Ball, Bag, Shirt and..., 1991

Mike Kelley

Untitled (Bowling Ball, Bag, Shirt and..., 1991

Sale Date: February 25, 2016

Auction Closed

Meditation on a Can of Vernors, 1981

Mike Kelley

Meditation on a Can of Vernors, 1981

Sale Date: February 10, 2016

Auction Closed

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