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)

VISCERAL EGG, 1994

Mike Kelley

VISCERAL EGG, 1994

Sale Date: February 10, 2016

Auction Closed

Twisted Shamrock (from Pansy Metal/Clovered..., 1989

Mike Kelley

Twisted Shamrock (from Pansy Metal/Clovered..., 1989

Sale Date: December 22, 2015

Auction Closed

Black Out (Detroit River), Detail: Panel 1, 2001

Mike Kelley

Black Out (Detroit River), Detail: Panel 1, 2001

Sale Date: December 18, 2015

Auction Closed

Primordial Catholic, 1997

Mike Kelley

Primordial Catholic, 1997

Sale Date: December 9, 2015

Auction Closed

2 works: (i) Meditation on a Can of Vernors; , 1981

Mike Kelley

2 works: (i) Meditation on a Can of Vernors; , 1981

Sale Date: December 9, 2015

Auction Closed

Goethe Quote, 1992

Mike Kelley

Goethe Quote, 1992

Sale Date: November 25, 2015

Auction Closed

Memory Ware Flat #24, 2001

Mike Kelley

Memory Ware Flat #24, 2001

Sale Date: November 11, 2015

Auction Closed

Party Girl, 1998

Mike Kelley

Party Girl, 1998

Sale Date: November 10, 2015

Auction Closed

Mike Kelley

Hidden Profile, 1994

Sale Date: November 10, 2015

Auction Closed

MEMORY WARE FLAT #29, 2001

Mike Kelley

MEMORY WARE FLAT #29, 2001

Sale Date: November 11, 2015

Auction Closed

Sweaty Cross, 1989

Mike Kelley

Sweaty Cross, 1989

Sale Date: October 17, 2015

Auction Closed

Rewrite, 1995

Mike Kelley

Rewrite, 1995

Sale Date: October 15, 2015

Auction Closed

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITY PROJECTIVE..., 2004–2005

Mike Kelley

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITY PROJECTIVE..., 2004–2005

Sale Date: October 16, 2015

Auction Closed

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITY PROJECTIVE..., 2004–2005

Mike Kelley

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITY PROJECTIVE..., 2004–2005

Sale Date: October 16, 2015

Auction Closed

PHOTO SHOW PORTRAYS THE FAMILIAR, 2001

Mike Kelley

PHOTO SHOW PORTRAYS THE FAMILIAR, 2001

Sale Date: September 29, 2015

Auction Closed

I HAVE DECIDED OPINIONS, 1983

Mike Kelley

I HAVE DECIDED OPINIONS, 1983

Sale Date: September 29, 2015

Auction Closed

Selected images from the poetry of..., 1985–1996

Mike Kelley

Selected images from the poetry of..., 1985–1996

Sale Date: July 22, 2015

Auction Closed

Selected images from the poetry of..., 1985–1996

Mike Kelley

Selected images from the poetry of..., 1985–1996

Sale Date: July 22, 2015

Auction Closed

‘Poetics Country’, 1997

Mike Kelley and Tony Oursler

‘Poetics Country’, 1997

Sale Date: July 22, 2015

Auction Closed

Goethe Quote, 1992

Mike Kelley

Goethe Quote, 1992

Sale Date: June 10, 2015

Auction Closed

Emerald Eyehole (tablecloth), 1989

Mike Kelley

Emerald Eyehole (tablecloth), 1989

Sale Date: June 11, 2015

Auction Closed

Satan's Nostrils; and..., 1989

Mike Kelley

Satan's Nostrils; and..., 1989

Sale Date: June 11, 2015

Auction Closed

Bowling Ball, Bag, Shirt, 1991

Mike Kelley

Bowling Ball, Bag, Shirt, 1991

Sale Date: May 31, 2015

Auction Closed

Garbage Drawing #26, 1988

Mike Kelley

Garbage Drawing #26, 1988

Sale Date: May 30, 2015

Auction Closed

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