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)

Duckblind (Grassy Island, Detroit River), 1999

Mike Kelley

Duckblind (Grassy Island, Detroit River), 1999

Sale Date: May 12, 2006

Auction Closed

Violin paper construction, 1986

Mike Kelley

Violin paper construction, 1986

Sale Date: May 12, 2006

Auction Closed

Landscape painting (Monkey Island), 1983

Mike Kelley

Landscape painting (Monkey Island), 1983

Sale Date: May 12, 2006

Auction Closed

Pin up board (7070 Hollywood Blvd.), 2000

Mike Kelley

Pin up board (7070 Hollywood Blvd.), 2000

Sale Date: May 12, 2006

Auction Closed

Party girl, 1998

Mike Kelley

Party girl, 1998

Sale Date: May 11, 2006

Auction Closed

Balance mass and emotional investment, 2001

Mike Kelley

Balance mass and emotional investment, 2001

Sale Date: May 11, 2006

Auction Closed

Ahh...youth (8 works), 1991

Mike Kelley

Ahh...youth (8 works), 1991

Sale Date: May 11, 2006

Auction Closed

They see God (Stained glass mattress), 1989

Mike Kelley

They see God (Stained glass mattress), 1989

Sale Date: May 10, 2006

Auction Closed

Untitled (Memory ware flat no.19), 2001

Mike Kelley

Untitled (Memory ware flat no.19), 2001

Sale Date: May 10, 2006

Auction Closed

Ahh... Youth (8 works), 1991

Mike Kelley

Ahh... Youth (8 works), 1991

Sale Date: May 9, 2006

Auction Closed

Devil bush, 1988

Mike Kelley

Devil bush, 1988

Sale Date: May 11, 2006

Auction Closed

Fresh Acconci (15 works + video tape), 1995

Paul McCarthy and Mike Kelley

Fresh Acconci (15 works + video tape), 1995

Sale Date: May 11, 2006

Auction Closed

Yellow banana 2, 1991

Mike Kelley

Yellow banana 2, 1991

Sale Date: May 11, 2006

Auction Closed

3-21-94 10:00am: Light-senstive eyes,...

Mike Kelley

3-21-94 10:00am: Light-senstive eyes,...

Sale Date: May 11, 2006

Auction Closed

I have decided opinions, 1983

Mike Kelley

I have decided opinions, 1983

Sale Date: May 11, 2006

Auction Closed

Empathy displacement: Humanoid morphology..., 1990

Mike Kelley

Empathy displacement: Humanoid morphology..., 1990

Sale Date: May 10, 2006

Auction Closed

In memory of Camelot, 2000

Mike Kelley

In memory of Camelot, 2000

Sale Date: May 10, 2006

Auction Closed

Bristly Joe, 1985–1996

Mike Kelley

Bristly Joe, 1985–1996

Sale Date: April 6, 2006

Auction Closed

Mommy dinosaur, daddy dinosaur and baby..., 1999

Mike Kelley

Mommy dinosaur, daddy dinosaur and baby..., 1999

Sale Date: March 14, 2006

Auction Closed

Rock critic I, 1991

Mike Kelley

Rock critic I, 1991

Sale Date: March 14, 2006

Auction Closed

Fresh acconci (16 works, incl. 1..., 1970–1979

Paul McCarthy and Mike Kelley

Fresh acconci (16 works, incl. 1..., 1970–1979

Sale Date: February 9, 2006

Auction Closed

Unlucky clover (from Pansy Metal, Clovered..., 1989

Mike Kelley

Unlucky clover (from Pansy Metal, Clovered..., 1989

Sale Date: February 9, 2006

Auction Closed

Santa, 1993

Mike Kelley

Sale Date: December 17, 2005

Auction Closed

Untitled (The Bill of Rights), 1992

Mike Kelley

Untitled (The Bill of Rights), 1992

Sale Date: December 5, 2005

Auction Closed

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