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)

LITTLE SOLDIER OF CHRIST, 1997

Mike Kelley

LITTLE SOLDIER OF CHRIST, 1997

Sale Date: November 20, 2018

Auction Closed

Garbage Bag 2, 1989

Mike Kelley

Garbage Bag 2, 1989

Sale Date: November 16, 2018

Auction Closed

Arena #8 (Leopard), 1990

Mike Kelley

Arena #8 (Leopard), 1990

Sale Date: November 16, 2018

Auction Closed

Memory Ware Flat #37, 2003

Mike Kelley

Memory Ware Flat #37, 2003

Sale Date: November 16, 2018

Auction Closed

Neoprimitive, 1984

Mike Kelley

Neoprimitive, 1984

Sale Date: November 16, 2018

Auction Closed

The Divided House of Faith and Reason, 1983

Mike Kelley

The Divided House of Faith and Reason, 1983

Sale Date: November 14, 2018

Auction Closed

Twisted Shamrock, from Pansy Metal/Clovered..., 1989

Mike Kelley

Twisted Shamrock, from Pansy Metal/Clovered..., 1989

Sale Date: October 17, 2018

Auction Closed

Hangin'-Heavy-Hairy-Horny, from Pansy..., 1989

Mike Kelley

Hangin'-Heavy-Hairy-Horny, from Pansy..., 1989

Sale Date: October 17, 2018

Auction Closed

Master Dik, from Pansy Metal/Clovered Hoof, 1989

Mike Kelley

Master Dik, from Pansy Metal/Clovered Hoof, 1989

Sale Date: October 17, 2018

Auction Closed

Peat Spade, from Pansy Metal/Clovered Hoof, 1989

Mike Kelley

Peat Spade, from Pansy Metal/Clovered Hoof, 1989

Sale Date: October 17, 2018

Auction Closed

Emerald Eyehole, from Pansy Metal/Clovered..., 1989

Mike Kelley

Emerald Eyehole, from Pansy Metal/Clovered..., 1989

Sale Date: October 17, 2018

Auction Closed

Satan's Nostrils, from Pansy Metal/Clovered..., 1989

Mike Kelley

Satan's Nostrils, from Pansy Metal/Clovered..., 1989

Sale Date: October 17, 2018

Auction Closed

Street Sign, 2004

Mike Kelley

Street Sign, 2004

Sale Date: October 17, 2018

Auction Closed

Untitled (Goethe Quote), 1992

Mike Kelley

Untitled (Goethe Quote), 1992

Sale Date: October 7, 2018

Auction Closed

Extracurricular Activity Projective..., 2004–2005

Mike Kelley

Extracurricular Activity Projective..., 2004–2005

Sale Date: September 26, 2018

Auction Closed

WHY I GOT INTO ART (VASELINE MUSES) NO.23, 1989

Mike Kelley

WHY I GOT INTO ART (VASELINE MUSES) NO.23, 1989

Sale Date: June 27, 2018

Auction Closed

HERMAPHRODITE WAR VICTIM, 2006

Mike Kelley

HERMAPHRODITE WAR VICTIM, 2006

Sale Date: June 27, 2018

Auction Closed

Lenticular 10, 2007

Mike Kelley

Lenticular 10, 2007

Sale Date: May 16, 2018

Auction Closed

UNTITLED, 1986

Mike Kelley

UNTITLED, 1986

Sale Date: May 17, 2018

Auction Closed

Manipulating Mass-Produced, Idealized..., 1990

Mike Kelley

Manipulating Mass-Produced, Idealized..., 1990

Sale Date: May 18, 2018

Auction Closed

Empathy Displacement: Humanoid Morphology..., 1990

Mike Kelley

Empathy Displacement: Humanoid Morphology..., 1990

Sale Date: May 18, 2018

Auction Closed

Sculpted by a Mouse, 1991–1998

Mike Kelley

Sculpted by a Mouse, 1991–1998

Sale Date: May 18, 2018

Auction Closed

Length, 1985

Mike Kelley

Sale Date: May 18, 2018

Auction Closed

Test Room Containing Multiple Stimuli Known..., 2001

Mike Kelley

Test Room Containing Multiple Stimuli Known..., 2001

Sale Date: May 1, 2018

Auction Closed

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