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)

Street Sign, 2004

Mike Kelley

Street Sign, 2004

Sale Date: April 24, 2018

Auction Closed

Femme Fatale, 1982

Mike Kelley

Femme Fatale, 1982

Sale Date: April 10, 2018

Auction Closed

Yellow Banana 1, 1991

Mike Kelley

Yellow Banana 1, 1991

Sale Date: April 10, 2018

Auction Closed

MEMORY WARE FLAT #29, 2001

Mike Kelley

MEMORY WARE FLAT #29, 2001

Sale Date: March 7, 2018

Auction Closed

Circular Progression, 1996

Mike Kelley

Circular Progression, 1996

Sale Date: March 9, 2018

Auction Closed

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

Mike Kelley

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

Sale Date: March 1, 2018

Auction Closed

Test Room Containing Multiple Stimuli Known..., 2001

Mike Kelley

Test Room Containing Multiple Stimuli Known..., 2001

Sale Date: December 14, 2017

Auction Closed

Runaway, 1999

Mike Kelley

Runaway, 1999

Sale Date: December 2, 2017

Auction Closed

WHITE OR YELLOW, 1997

Mike Kelley

WHITE OR YELLOW, 1997

Sale Date: November 21, 2017

Auction Closed

Banner (Shamrock/Spade), 1989

Mike Kelley

Banner (Shamrock/Spade), 1989

Sale Date: November 19, 2017

Auction Closed

Banner (Skull), 1989

Mike Kelley

Banner (Skull), 1989

Sale Date: November 18, 2017

Auction Closed

Entry Way (Genealogical Chart), 1995

Mike Kelley

Entry Way (Genealogical Chart), 1995

Sale Date: November 16, 2017

Auction Closed

GARBAGE DRAWING NO. 10, 1988

Mike Kelley

GARBAGE DRAWING NO. 10, 1988

Sale Date: November 17, 2017

Auction Closed

KING OF THE MOUNTAIN, 1983

Mike Kelley

KING OF THE MOUNTAIN, 1983

Sale Date: November 17, 2017

Auction Closed

Lenticular 1, 2007

Mike Kelley

Lenticular 1, 2007

Sale Date: October 21, 2017

Auction Closed

Master Dik, from Pansy Metal/Clovered Hoof, 1989

Mike Kelley

Master Dik, from Pansy Metal/Clovered Hoof, 1989

Sale Date: October 17, 2017

Auction Closed

Unwashed Abstraction Nr. 2, 1988

Mike Kelley

Unwashed Abstraction Nr. 2, 1988

Sale Date: October 7, 2017

Auction Closed

Garbage Drawing Nr. 49, 1988

Mike Kelley

Garbage Drawing Nr. 49, 1988

Sale Date: October 7, 2017

Auction Closed

GARBAGE DRAWING #2, 1988

Mike Kelley

GARBAGE DRAWING #2, 1988

Sale Date: October 6, 2017

Auction Closed

INNER CHILD, 1999

Mike Kelley

INNER CHILD, 1999

Sale Date: October 5, 2017

Auction Closed

Compound Temporal Conflation..., 2002–2003

Mike Kelley

Compound Temporal Conflation..., 2002–2003

Sale Date: September 28, 2017

Auction Closed

PERSONIFIED SUBINCISION LINGAM WITH BELLE..., 2002

Mike Kelley

PERSONIFIED SUBINCISION LINGAM WITH BELLE..., 2002

Sale Date: June 29, 2017

Auction Closed

Street Sign, 2004

Mike Kelley

Street Sign, 2004

Sale Date: June 22, 2017

Auction Closed

The Missing Leg, 1984

Mike Kelley

The Missing Leg, 1984

Sale Date: May 21, 2017

Auction Closed

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