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)

THE LONE PROSPECTOR (RECONSTRUCTED HISTORY..., 1989

Mike Kelley

THE LONE PROSPECTOR (RECONSTRUCTED HISTORY..., 1989

Sale Date: December 6, 2019

Auction Closed

UNTITLED (GIRL AND TOY), 1974

Mike Kelley

UNTITLED (GIRL AND TOY), 1974

Sale Date: November 21, 2019

Auction Closed

FAB AURA, 1974

Mike Kelley

FAB AURA, 1974

Sale Date: November 19, 2019

Auction Closed

ASHER BENJAMIN: AUTHOR OF

Mike Kelley

ASHER BENJAMIN: AUTHOR OF "THE COUNTRY..., 1989

Sale Date: November 15, 2019

Auction Closed

A PATRIOT (FROM THE RECONSTRUCTED HISTORY..., 1989

Mike Kelley

A PATRIOT (FROM THE RECONSTRUCTED HISTORY..., 1989

Sale Date: November 15, 2019

Auction Closed

ALPHABET AND BEE-BEARD, 1985

Mike Kelley

ALPHABET AND BEE-BEARD, 1985

Sale Date: November 14, 2019

Auction Closed

1. Gothic, Monday's Goth … (+ 8), 1997

Mike Kelley and Cameron Jamie

1. Gothic, Monday's Goth … (+ 8), 1997

Sale Date: October 22, 2019

Auction Closed

Test Room Containing Multiple Stimuli Known..., 2001

Mike Kelley

Test Room Containing Multiple Stimuli Known..., 2001

Sale Date: October 30, 2019

Auction Closed

Paddle for Artist's Space, 1992

Mike Kelley

Paddle for Artist's Space, 1992

Sale Date: September 25, 2019

Auction Closed

Auditions, 2004

Mike Kelley

Auditions, 2004

Sale Date: September 20, 2019

Auction Closed

Little Soldier of Christ, 1997

Mike Kelley

Little Soldier of Christ, 1997

Sale Date: June 25, 2019

Auction Closed

Little Friend, 2007

Mike Kelley

Little Friend, 2007

Sale Date: July 18, 2019

Auction Closed

LENTICULAR 4, 2007

Mike Kelley

LENTICULAR 4, 2007

Sale Date: June 27, 2019

Auction Closed

Holiday Lingham Paperweight, 2002

Mike Kelley

Holiday Lingham Paperweight, 2002

Sale Date: June 26, 2019

Auction Closed

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

Mike Kelley

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

Sale Date: June 12, 2019

Auction Closed

Three Valleys, 1980

Mike Kelley

Three Valleys, 1980

Sale Date: May 15, 2019

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1990

Mike Kelley

Untitled, 1990

Sale Date: May 16, 2019

Auction Closed

GARBAGE DRAWING #21, 1988

Mike Kelley

GARBAGE DRAWING #21, 1988

Sale Date: May 17, 2019

Auction Closed

MEMORY WARE FLAT #12, 2001

Mike Kelley

MEMORY WARE FLAT #12, 2001

Sale Date: May 17, 2019

Auction Closed

Ghoul #2 (pimp), 2005

Mike Kelley

Ghoul #2 (pimp), 2005

Sale Date: March 8, 2019

Auction Closed

Missing Time Color Exercise (reversed) No.5..., 2002

Mike Kelley

Missing Time Color Exercise (reversed) No.5..., 2002

Sale Date: February 28, 2019

Auction Closed

Little Friend, 2007

Mike Kelley

Little Friend, 2007

Sale Date: January 17, 2019

Auction Closed

Blackout (Detroit River). Detail: Panel 1, 2001

Mike Kelley

Blackout (Detroit River). Detail: Panel 1, 2001

Sale Date: November 17, 2018

Auction Closed

Sans titre, 1999

Mike Kelley

Sans titre, 1999

Sale Date: November 19, 2018

Auction Closed

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