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)

Goethe Quote (For Parkett 31), 1992

Mike Kelley

Goethe Quote (For Parkett 31), 1992

Sale Date: December 12, 2013

Auction Closed

Timeless/Authorless (Series of 15), 1995

Mike Kelley

Timeless/Authorless (Series of 15), 1995

Sale Date: November 12, 2013

Auction Closed

It's a hereditary trait (in 2 parts), 1982

Mike Kelley

It's a hereditary trait (in 2 parts), 1982

Sale Date: November 14, 2013

Auction Closed

Black Velvet Study #3, 2002

Mike Kelley

Black Velvet Study #3, 2002

Sale Date: November 13, 2013

Auction Closed

Heidi, 1992–1993

Paul McCarthy and Mike Kelley

Heidi, 1992–1993

Sale Date: October 17, 2013

Auction Closed

Extracurricular activity projective..., 2004–2005

Mike Kelley

Extracurricular activity projective..., 2004–2005

Sale Date: October 18, 2013

Auction Closed

FMore love than can ever be repaid, 1990

Mike Kelley and Bob Flanagan

FMore love than can ever be repaid, 1990

Sale Date: September 25, 2013

Auction Closed

Photo show portrays the familiar (in 26 parts), 2001

Mike Kelley

Photo show portrays the familiar (in 26 parts), 2001

Sale Date: September 25, 2013

Auction Closed

Goethe Quote, 1992

Mike Kelley

Goethe Quote, 1992

Sale Date: September 26, 2013

Auction Closed

Yellow Banana 2, 1991

Mike Kelley

Yellow Banana 2, 1991

Sale Date: September 19, 2013

Auction Closed

Street Sign, 2004

Mike Kelley

Street Sign, 2004

Sale Date: July 16, 2013

Auction Closed

Fresh acconci (in 17 parts), 1995

Paul McCarthy and Mike Kelley

Fresh acconci (in 17 parts), 1995

Sale Date: June 7, 2013

Auction Closed

Plato's Cave, (34 works), 1985–1996

Mike Kelley

Plato's Cave, (34 works), 1985–1996

Sale Date: May 17, 2013

Auction Closed

ET's Long Neck, Two Brains, Penis and Scrotum, 1989

Mike Kelley

ET's Long Neck, Two Brains, Penis and Scrotum, 1989

Sale Date: May 14, 2013

Auction Closed

Subliminal Images (Buried in Plaid), 1997

Mike Kelley

Subliminal Images (Buried in Plaid), 1997

Sale Date: April 17, 2013

Auction Closed

Toward a Coffee table - Monograph on the..., 1994

Mike Kelley

Toward a Coffee table - Monograph on the..., 1994

Sale Date: April 17, 2013

Auction Closed

We communicate only through our shared..., 1995

Mike Kelley

We communicate only through our shared..., 1995

Sale Date: March 8, 2013

Auction Closed

Head Dish, 1983

Mike Kelley

Head Dish, 1983

Sale Date: March 8, 2013

Auction Closed

More Love Than Can Ever be Repaid, 1990

Mike Kelley and Bob Flanagan

More Love Than Can Ever be Repaid, 1990

Sale Date: March 7, 2013

Auction Closed

Timeless/Authorless (set of 15), 1995

Mike Kelley

Timeless/Authorless (set of 15), 1995

Sale Date: February 27, 2013

Auction Closed

Pre and Post (diptych), 1999–2000

Mike Kelley

Pre and Post (diptych), 1999–2000

Sale Date: February 15, 2013

Auction Closed

Black Out (Detroit River) (in 8 parts), 2001

Mike Kelley

Black Out (Detroit River) (in 8 parts), 2001

Sale Date: February 15, 2013

Auction Closed

Hidden Weakness, Hidden Strength (in 2 parts), 1982

Mike Kelley

Hidden Weakness, Hidden Strength (in 2 parts), 1982

Sale Date: February 14, 2013

Auction Closed

Wood Nymph, 1988

Mike Kelley

Wood Nymph, 1988

Sale Date: February 14, 2013

Auction Closed

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