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)

Animation 6 (Baby), 2007

Mike Kelley

Animation 6 (Baby), 2007

Sale Date: November 10, 2010

Auction Closed

Runway, 1999

Mike Kelley

Sale Date: November 21, 2010

Auction Closed

Exploring, 1985

Mike Kelley

Exploring, 1985

Sale Date: November 11, 2010

Auction Closed

Towhead n'ganga, enclosed in darkness,..., 1996

Mike Kelley

Towhead n'ganga, enclosed in darkness,..., 1996

Sale Date: November 9, 2010

Auction Closed

Light time, space modulator (13 works), 2003

Mike Kelley

Light time, space modulator (13 works), 2003

Sale Date: September 22, 2010

Auction Closed

Apple tree, 1982

Mike Kelley

Apple tree, 1982

Sale Date: September 22, 2010

Auction Closed

Garbage drawing no. 39, 1988

Mike Kelley

Garbage drawing no. 39, 1988

Sale Date: September 25, 2010

Auction Closed

Untitled no. 6 (in 2 parts), 1994

Mike Kelley

Untitled no. 6 (in 2 parts), 1994

Sale Date: July 1, 2010

Auction Closed

Nostalgic deptiction of the innocence of..., 1990

Mike Kelley

Nostalgic deptiction of the innocence of..., 1990

Sale Date: July 1, 2010

Auction Closed

Street sign, 2004

Mike Kelley

Street sign, 2004

Sale Date: June 24, 2010

Auction Closed

Garbage drawing #66, 1988

Mike Kelley

Garbage drawing #66, 1988

Sale Date: May 28, 2010

Auction Closed

Extracurricular activity projective..., 2004–2005

Mike Kelley

Extracurricular activity projective..., 2004–2005

Sale Date: June 5, 2010

Auction Closed

Test Room Containing Multiple Stimuli Known..., 2001

Mike Kelley

Test Room Containing Multiple Stimuli Known..., 2001

Sale Date: May 14, 2010

Auction Closed

Garbage Drawing no.37, 1988

Mike Kelley

Garbage Drawing no.37, 1988

Sale Date: May 14, 2010

Auction Closed

Double double sunset (+ another; 2 works), 2005

Mike Kelley

Double double sunset (+ another; 2 works), 2005

Sale Date: May 12, 2010

Auction Closed

Manipulating mass-produced idealized objects, 1990

Mike Kelley

Manipulating mass-produced idealized objects, 1990

Sale Date: May 12, 2010

Auction Closed

Nostalgic description of the innocence of..., 1990

Mike Kelley

Nostalgic description of the innocence of..., 1990

Sale Date: May 12, 2010

Auction Closed

Primaling cabinet, 1992

Mike Kelley

Primaling cabinet, 1992

Sale Date: May 12, 2010

Auction Closed

Bowling ball, bag and shirt, 1991

Mike Kelley

Bowling ball, bag and shirt, 1991

Sale Date: March 9, 2010

Auction Closed

Daddy, 1987

Mike Kelley

Sale Date: March 4, 2010

Auction Closed

Animation 6 (Baby) (20 works), 2007

Mike Kelley

Animation 6 (Baby) (20 works), 2007

Sale Date: March 4, 2010

Auction Closed

#7 The descent, 1994

Mike Kelley

#7 The descent, 1994

Sale Date: March 8, 2010

Auction Closed

#6 The fall, from The thirteen seasons,..., 1994

Mike Kelley

#6 The fall, from The thirteen seasons,..., 1994

Sale Date: March 8, 2010

Auction Closed

Memory ware flat no. 48, 2008

Mike Kelley

Memory ware flat no. 48, 2008

Sale Date: February 10, 2010

Auction Closed

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