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)

A fax transmission from Oct. 21, 1986,..., 1986–2004

Mike Kelley

A fax transmission from Oct. 21, 1986,..., 1986–2004

Sale Date: May 13, 2015

Auction Closed

Extracurricular Activity Projective..., 2004–2005

Mike Kelley

Extracurricular Activity Projective..., 2004–2005

Sale Date: May 12, 2015

Auction Closed

Unified and Antisocial Forms, 1991

Mike Kelley

Unified and Antisocial Forms, 1991

Sale Date: May 12, 2015

Auction Closed

Tree Spirits (from the Parasite Lily), 1979

Mike Kelley

Tree Spirits (from the Parasite Lily), 1979

Sale Date: May 12, 2015

Auction Closed

Tiger and Saddle Shoe, 1991

Mike Kelley

Tiger and Saddle Shoe, 1991

Sale Date: May 12, 2015

Auction Closed

Prenatal Mutual Recognition of Betty and..., 1995

Mike Kelley

Prenatal Mutual Recognition of Betty and..., 1995

Sale Date: May 15, 2015

Auction Closed

Plaster statue of John Glenn, John Glenn..., 2001

Mike Kelley

Plaster statue of John Glenn, John Glenn..., 2001

Sale Date: March 10, 2015

Auction Closed

Test Room Containing Multiple Stimuli Known..., 2001

Mike Kelley

Test Room Containing Multiple Stimuli Known..., 2001

Sale Date: March 1, 2015

Auction Closed

Timeless/Authorless, 1995

Mike Kelley

Timeless/Authorless, 1995

Sale Date: March 1, 2015

Auction Closed

Untitled from the Sublime (Study for Dear..., 1983

Mike Kelley

Untitled from the Sublime (Study for Dear..., 1983

Sale Date: February 13, 2015

Auction Closed

Heidi, 1992–1993

Paul McCarthy and Mike Kelley

Heidi, 1992–1993

Sale Date: November 19, 2014

Auction Closed

Far down underground an Erie glow everyone..., 1981

Mike Kelley

Far down underground an Erie glow everyone..., 1981

Sale Date: November 12, 2014

Auction Closed

The buried treasure, 1983

Mike Kelley

The buried treasure, 1983

Sale Date: November 12, 2014

Auction Closed

Little Friend talking toy

Mike Kelley

Little Friend talking toy

Sale Date: November 1, 2014

Auction Closed

Poetics country

Mike Kelley

Poetics country

Sale Date: November 5, 2014

Auction Closed

Bowling bag, 1991

Mike Kelley

Bowling bag, 1991

Sale Date: November 5, 2014

Auction Closed

Nazi War Cave #1, 1985

Mike Kelley

Nazi War Cave #1, 1985

Sale Date: October 12, 2014

Auction Closed

Untitled (3 works), 1986

Mike Kelley

Untitled (3 works), 1986

Sale Date: September 24, 2014

Auction Closed

Craft morphology flow chart (set of 3), 1991

Mike Kelley

Craft morphology flow chart (set of 3), 1991

Sale Date: September 24, 2014

Auction Closed

Irritable bowel syndrome, 1994

Mike Kelley

Irritable bowel syndrome, 1994

Sale Date: September 24, 2014

Auction Closed

Test room containing multiple stimuli known..., 2001

Mike Kelley

Test room containing multiple stimuli known..., 2001

Sale Date: September 24, 2014

Auction Closed

The past and the future (in 2 parts), 1980

Mike Kelley

The past and the future (in 2 parts), 1980

Sale Date: September 24, 2014

Auction Closed

Untitled (from The Sublime (Study for..., 1983

Mike Kelley

Untitled (from The Sublime (Study for..., 1983

Sale Date: September 16, 2014

Auction Closed

Untitled (1, 5, 6, 7, 10, 13) (in 6 parts), 1994

Mike Kelley

Untitled (1, 5, 6, 7, 10, 13) (in 6 parts), 1994

Sale Date: July 2, 2014

Auction Closed

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