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)

Mike Kelley

Sale Date: July 1, 2008

Auction Closed

Pansy metal/clovered hoof, Master Dik, 1989

Mike Kelley

Pansy metal/clovered hoof, Master Dik, 1989

Sale Date: May 21, 2008

Auction Closed

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

Mike Kelley

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

Sale Date: May 16, 2008

Auction Closed

Private address system, 1992

Mike Kelley

Private address system, 1992

Sale Date: May 15, 2008

Auction Closed

Hangin-heavy-hairy-horny, sweat clovered..., 1989

Mike Kelley

Hangin-heavy-hairy-horny, sweat clovered..., 1989

Sale Date: May 20, 2008

Auction Closed

Memory ware flat #2, 2000

Mike Kelley

Memory ware flat #2, 2000

Sale Date: May 14, 2008

Auction Closed

Bad acting, 1983

Mike Kelley

Bad acting, 1983

Sale Date: May 14, 2008

Auction Closed

Nativity play - Extracurricular..., 2004–2005

Mike Kelley

Nativity play - Extracurricular..., 2004–2005

Sale Date: May 13, 2008

Auction Closed

Butter colored vision of the Land O'Lakes..., 2001

Mike Kelley

Butter colored vision of the Land O'Lakes..., 2001

Sale Date: March 31, 2008

Auction Closed

Street sign, 2004

Mike Kelley

Street sign, 2004

Sale Date: March 15, 2008

Auction Closed

Untitled (+ another; 2 works from Pansy..., 1989

Mike Kelley

Untitled (+ another; 2 works from Pansy..., 1989

Sale Date: March 15, 2008

Auction Closed

Promoting Orality, 1995

Mike Kelley

Promoting Orality, 1995

Sale Date: April 1, 2008

Auction Closed

They see god (Stained Gass Mattress), 1989

Mike Kelley

They see god (Stained Gass Mattress), 1989

Sale Date: April 1, 2008

Auction Closed

Trained for Confinement, 1995

Mike Kelley

Trained for Confinement, 1995

Sale Date: April 1, 2008

Auction Closed

All or nothing, 1994

Mike Kelley

All or nothing, 1994

Sale Date: February 29, 2008

Auction Closed

Satan's nostrils, 1989

Mike Kelley

Satan's nostrils, 1989

Sale Date: February 29, 2008

Auction Closed

Hangin'-heavy-hairy-horny, sweat, 1989

Mike Kelley

Hangin'-heavy-hairy-horny, sweat, 1989

Sale Date: February 29, 2008

Auction Closed

Emerald eyehole, table cloth, 1989

Mike Kelley

Emerald eyehole, table cloth, 1989

Sale Date: February 29, 2008

Auction Closed

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

Mike Kelley

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

Sale Date: February 29, 2008

Auction Closed

Lingam and Yoni, Peche Island, 2002

Mike Kelley

Lingam and Yoni, Peche Island, 2002

Sale Date: February 7, 2008

Auction Closed

Ohne Titel, 1994

Mike Kelley

Ohne Titel, 1994

Sale Date: November 29, 2007

Auction Closed

Aus den fugen geraten (in 8 parts), 1985–1986

Mike Kelley

Aus den fugen geraten (in 8 parts), 1985–1986

Sale Date: November 16, 2007

Auction Closed

Garbage drawing no.32, 1988

Mike Kelley

Garbage drawing no.32, 1988

Sale Date: November 16, 2007

Auction Closed

Wild nature (The sublime series), 1983

Mike Kelley

Wild nature (The sublime series), 1983

Sale Date: November 16, 2007

Auction Closed

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