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 Artworks

Mike Kelley (772 results)
Ahh Youth (set de 8), 2018

Mike Kelley x Supreme

Ahh Youth (set de 8), 2018

Sale Date: April 23, 2024

Auction Closed

Lingam and Yoni (Grosse Île), 2002

Mike Kelley

Lingam and Yoni (Grosse Île), 2002

Sale Date: April 19, 2024

Auction Closed

Untitled (6th Annual Luau), 1993

Mike Kelley

Untitled (6th Annual Luau), 1993

Sale Date: March 13, 2024

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Figure I (Sock), 1989

Mike Kelley

Figure I (Sock), 1989

Sale Date: March 1, 2024

Auction Closed

Hafiz, 1978

Mike Kelley

Hafiz, 1978

Sale Date: February 21, 2024

Auction Closed

Bowling Ball, Bag, Shirt and Catalog, 1991

Mike Kelley

Bowling Ball, Bag, Shirt and Catalog, 1991

Sale Date: February 15, 2024

Auction Closed

More Tragic! More Plangent! . . . More..., 1985

Mike Kelley

More Tragic! More Plangent! . . . More..., 1985

Sale Date: February 22, 2024

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Untitled (Paddle for Artists Space), 1992

Mike Kelley

Untitled (Paddle for Artists Space), 1992

Sale Date: December 15, 2023

Auction Closed

Toy Santa Claus, 1993

Mike Kelley

Toy Santa Claus, 1993

Sale Date: December 7, 2023

Auction Closed

Auditions, 2004

Mike Kelley

Auditions, 2004

Sale Date: September 7, 2023

Auction Closed

Ahh Youth (set de 8), 2018

After Mike Kelley

Ahh Youth (set de 8), 2018

Sale Date: March 28, 2023

Auction Closed

Fresh Acconci, 1995

Paul McCarthy and Mike Kelley

Fresh Acconci, 1995

Sale Date: August 2, 2023

Auction Closed

With Malice Toward None: With Charity for..., 1989

Mike Kelley

With Malice Toward None: With Charity for..., 1989

Sale Date: July 26, 2023

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Pay For Your Pleasure, 1988

Mike Kelley

Pay For Your Pleasure, 1988

Sale Date: July 19, 2023

Auction Closed

Painting Study 7, 2005–2008

Mike Kelley

Painting Study 7, 2005–2008

Sale Date: July 13, 2023

Auction Closed

Lenticular 7, 2007

Mike Kelley

Lenticular 7, 2007

Sale Date: June 28, 2023

Auction Closed

Poetics Country (S. p. 414), 1997

Mike Kelley and Tony Oursler

Poetics Country (S. p. 414), 1997

Sale Date: June 21, 2023

Auction Closed

Reconstructed History, 1990

Mike Kelley

Reconstructed History, 1990

Sale Date: June 21, 2023

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The Mobile Homestead in front of the..., 2010

Mike Kelley

The Mobile Homestead in front of the..., 2010

Sale Date: June 15, 2023

Auction Closed

Poetics Country, 1997

Mike Kelley

Poetics Country, 1997

Sale Date: June 29, 2023

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Ghoul #3 (Christmas Tie), 2005

Mike Kelley

Ghoul #3 (Christmas Tie), 2005

Sale Date: June 7, 2023

Auction Closed

Painting Study 11, 2005–2008

Mike Kelley

Painting Study 11, 2005–2008

Sale Date: April 19, 2023

Auction Closed

Lenticular 13, 2007

Mike Kelley

Lenticular 13, 2007

Sale Date: April 18, 2023

Auction Closed

Kappa, Pond of Desire, 1984

Mike Kelley

Kappa, Pond of Desire, 1984

Sale Date: April 18, 2023

Auction Closed