Mike Kelley

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Mike Kelley (born October 27, 1954 in Wayne , Michigan , † probably January 31, 2012 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American installation and performance artist . In his works and texts, Kelley dealt with world view systems and the psychological dependencies of the people trapped in them. In a 1992 interview, Kelley described his artistic exploration as follows: "If you get involved with the devil, you don't change the devil. The devil changes you."

Life

Kelley was born into a strict Roman Catholic family and had four siblings. His father was a school caretaker and his mother worked as a cook in the canteens at the local Ford factories. In 1976 he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , and a Master of Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts , Valencia , California in 1978 . His teachers included performer Laurie Anderson and concept artist John Baldessari . In 1977 he founded the punk band The Poetics with Tony Oursler , which existed until 1983.

Since 1986, Kelley became known to a wider public for his room installations, in which he arranged colorful plush toys, crocheted blankets and dolls that he had collected at flea markets into kitschy, but also irritating groups. In 1992 one of his works, a rag doll, was used as the cover image for the Sonic Youth album Dirty . The first edition of the CD also contained a photograph by Kelley, in which the performance artists Bob Flanagan and Sherry Rose can be seen naked in offensive poses with life-size rag dolls.

Kelley took part in Documenta 9 in 1992 and in Documenta 10 in Kassel in 1997 . In 1995 the Munich House of Art (as a takeover of the Whitney Museum of American Art ) showed a retrospective Catholic Tastes / Catholic Preferences . From June 9th to October 1st, 2000, the installation Alma Pater (Wolverine Den) could be viewed in the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus and Kunstbau Munich .

In 2007, Kelley showed a petting zoo , a round pavilion equipped with video screens, in which sheep, goats and ponies could be touched at the Skulptur.Projekte in Münster . "With objects and installations, but also performances, he directs our attention to subliminal collective fears and desires, which he localizes primarily in the American, religiously influenced middle class".

Kelley lived and worked in Los Angeles. On January 31, 2012, he was found dead at his home in South Pasadena . The police suspected that he had committed suicide.

Awards

Public collections

literature

  • Thomas Kellein (ed.): Mike Kelley , Portikus, Frankfurt am Main, catalog, 1992, ISBN 3-89322-450-5 .
  • Heinz-Norbert Jocks : Dialogues: Art and Literature: Mike Kelley in conversation , DuMont, Cologne, 2001, ISBN 3-7701-5096-1 .
  • Knight, Christopher: Mike Kelley , Galerie Jablonka Cologne, catalog, 1989.
  • Elisabeth Sussmann (Ed.): Mike Kelley - Catholic Tastes , Whitney Museum of American Art, New Nork, 1993.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sonic Youth Homepage, accessed February 2, 2012
  2. ↑ Irene Netta, Ursula Keltz: 75 years of the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus and Kunstbau Munich . Ed .: Helmut Friedel. Self-published by the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus and Kunstbau, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-88645-157-7 , p. 230 .
  3. ↑ Website Sculpture Projects Münster 07
  4. ↑ Mike Kelley is dead , Spiegel Online, February 2, 2012 (accessed August 2, 2012).
personal data
SURNAME Kelley, Mike
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American installation and performance artist
DATE OF BIRTH October 27, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Wayne , Michigan
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: January 31, 2012
Place of death Los Angeles , California