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)

Photo show portrays the familiar 1-26 (suite , 2001

Mike Kelley

Photo show portrays the familiar 1-26 (suite , 2001

Sale Date: April 3, 2012

Auction Closed

The poetry of form: Part of an ongoing..., 1985–1996

Mike Kelley

The poetry of form: Part of an ongoing..., 1985–1996

Sale Date: March 9, 2012

Auction Closed

Three valleys (set of 12), 1980–1998

Mike Kelley

Three valleys (set of 12), 1980–1998

Sale Date: February 17, 2012

Auction Closed

Untitled (Dear Doctor) (study) (from the..., 1983

Mike Kelley

Untitled (Dear Doctor) (study) (from the..., 1983

Sale Date: February 17, 2012

Auction Closed

Lenticular 5, 2007

Mike Kelley

Lenticular 5, 2007

Sale Date: February 17, 2012

Auction Closed

Slap (in 12 parts), 1999–2000

Mike Kelley

Slap (in 12 parts), 1999–2000

Sale Date: February 15, 2012

Auction Closed

Priest/Yankee Zulu, 1988

Mike Kelley

Priest/Yankee Zulu, 1988

Sale Date: February 15, 2012

Auction Closed

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

Mike Kelley

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

Sale Date: February 13, 2012

Auction Closed

Rewrite figure 302, 1995

Mike Kelley

Rewrite figure 302, 1995

Sale Date: December 1, 2011

Auction Closed

Pansy metal/clovered hoof: Hanging heavy horny, 1989

Mike Kelley

Pansy metal/clovered hoof: Hanging heavy horny, 1989

Sale Date: December 2, 2011

Auction Closed

Timeless/Authorless (in 15 parts), 1995

Mike Kelley

Timeless/Authorless (in 15 parts), 1995

Sale Date: November 9, 2011

Auction Closed

Heart and flower, 1988

Mike Kelley

Heart and flower, 1988

Sale Date: November 9, 2011

Auction Closed

Arena no.11 (Book bunny), 1990

Mike Kelley

Arena no.11 (Book bunny), 1990

Sale Date: November 9, 2011

Auction Closed

Snowflake (Center and peripheries no.3) (in..., 1990

Mike Kelley

Snowflake (Center and peripheries no.3) (in..., 1990

Sale Date: November 9, 2011

Auction Closed

Ahh... Youth! (8 works), 1991

Mike Kelley

Ahh... Youth! (8 works), 1991

Sale Date: November 8, 2011

Auction Closed

Untitled (Government and business), 1991

Mike Kelley

Untitled (Government and business), 1991

Sale Date: November 10, 2011

Auction Closed

Yellow banana 2, 1991

Mike Kelley

Yellow banana 2, 1991

Sale Date: November 8, 2011

Auction Closed

Garbage drawing no.29, 1988

Mike Kelley

Garbage drawing no.29, 1988

Sale Date: November 8, 2011

Auction Closed

Extracurricular activity projective..., 2004–2005

Mike Kelley

Extracurricular activity projective..., 2004–2005

Sale Date: October 19, 2011

Auction Closed

Extracurricular activity projective..., 2004–2005

Mike Kelley

Extracurricular activity projective..., 2004–2005

Sale Date: October 15, 2011

Auction Closed

Untitled (study for Headache napkin #2)..., 1983

Mike Kelley

Untitled (study for Headache napkin #2)..., 1983

Sale Date: October 14, 2011

Auction Closed

Test room containing multiple stimuli known..., 2001

Mike Kelley

Test room containing multiple stimuli known..., 2001

Sale Date: September 23, 2011

Auction Closed

Garbage drawing no.18, 1988

Mike Kelley

Garbage drawing no.18, 1988

Sale Date: September 9, 2011

Auction Closed

Extracurricular activity projective..., 2004–2005

Mike Kelley

Extracurricular activity projective..., 2004–2005

Sale Date: June 28, 2011

Auction Closed

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