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)

UNTITLED, 1989

Mike Kelley

UNTITLED, 1989

Sale Date: May 19, 2017

Auction Closed

ONE WAS FAT, ONE WAS LEAN, 2005

Mike Kelley

ONE WAS FAT, ONE WAS LEAN, 2005

Sale Date: May 19, 2017

Auction Closed

FABRIC, 1982–1983

Mike Kelley

FABRIC, 1982–1983

Sale Date: May 19, 2017

Auction Closed

Physiological Landscape (in 2 parts), 1983

Mike Kelley

Physiological Landscape (in 2 parts), 1983

Sale Date: May 17, 2017

Auction Closed

PINK AND GRAY, 1991

Mike Kelley

PINK AND GRAY, 1991

Sale Date: May 18, 2017

Auction Closed

Memory Ware Flat #16, 2001

Mike Kelley

Memory Ware Flat #16, 2001

Sale Date: May 17, 2017

Auction Closed

From Monkey Island (La Femme Fatale), 1982

Mike Kelley

From Monkey Island (La Femme Fatale), 1982

Sale Date: May 16, 2017

Auction Closed

Island Potpourri Christmas Lingam and Yoni, 2002

Mike Kelley

Island Potpourri Christmas Lingam and Yoni, 2002

Sale Date: April 5, 2017

Auction Closed

Sprinkle Lingam Paperweight, 2002

Mike Kelley

Sprinkle Lingam Paperweight, 2002

Sale Date: April 5, 2017

Auction Closed

Early American Landscape, 1981

Mike Kelley

Early American Landscape, 1981

Sale Date: March 3, 2017

Auction Closed

Red Cave, 1980

Mike Kelley

Red Cave, 1980

Sale Date: March 3, 2017

Auction Closed

GARBAGE DRAWING #23, 1988

Mike Kelley

GARBAGE DRAWING #23, 1988

Sale Date: March 9, 2017

Auction Closed

The Slient Servant, 1981

Mike Kelley

The Slient Servant, 1981

Sale Date: March 5, 2017

Auction Closed

3 (from We Communicate Only Through Our..., 1995

Mike Kelley

3 (from We Communicate Only Through Our..., 1995

Sale Date: March 5, 2017

Auction Closed

12 (from We Communicate Only Through Our..., 1995

Mike Kelley

12 (from We Communicate Only Through Our..., 1995

Sale Date: March 5, 2017

Auction Closed

Cocks and Balls, 1988

Mike Kelley

Cocks and Balls, 1988

Sale Date: February 28, 2017

Auction Closed

Untitled (Goethe Quote), 1992

Mike Kelley

Untitled (Goethe Quote), 1992

Sale Date: November 20, 2016

Auction Closed

Timeless/Authorless, 1995

Mike Kelley

Timeless/Authorless, 1995

Sale Date: November 20, 2016

Auction Closed

KING OF THE MOUNTAIN (FROM MONKEY ISLAND)..., 1983

Mike Kelley

KING OF THE MOUNTAIN (FROM MONKEY ISLAND)..., 1983

Sale Date: November 18, 2016

Auction Closed

CAVE PAINTING, 1984

Mike Kelley

CAVE PAINTING, 1984

Sale Date: November 17, 2016

Auction Closed

Untitled (Bowling Ball, Stand and..., 1992

Mike Kelley

Untitled (Bowling Ball, Stand and..., 1992

Sale Date: November 5, 2016

Auction Closed

Rewrite, 1995

Mike Kelley

Rewrite, 1995

Sale Date: October 6, 2016

Auction Closed

Garbage Drawing #56, 1988

Mike Kelley

Garbage Drawing #56, 1988

Sale Date: September 28, 2016

Auction Closed

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITY PROJECTIVE..., 2004

Mike Kelley

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITY PROJECTIVE..., 2004

Sale Date: September 29, 2016

Auction Closed

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