MoMA PS1: Exhibitions: Mike Kelley
A show not be missed (until Feb 2, 2014). I was very inspired by this show. Mike Kelley was an incredibly prolific artist that was not afraid to take risks—he did not hold back and followed his ideas and passions.
From the PS1 website:
Born in Detroit, Kelley lived and worked in Los Angeles from the mid-1970s until his tragic death last year at the age of 57. Over his thirty-five year career, he worked in every conceivable medium—drawings on paper, sculpture, performances, music, video, photography, and painting. Speaking of his early work and artistic concerns at large, Kelley had said, “My entrance into the art world was through the counter-culture, where it was common practice to lift material from mass culture and ‘pervert’ it to reverse or alter its meaning… Mass culture is scrutinized to discover what is hidden, repressed, within it.” Through his art, Kelley explored themes as diverse as American class relations, sexuality, repressed memory, systems of religion and transcendence, and post-punk politics. He brought to these subjects both incisive critique and abundant, self-deprecating humor.
Kelley’s work did not develop along a purely linear trajectory. Instead, he returned time and again to certain underlying themes—the shapes lurking underneath the carpet, as it were—including repressed memories, disjunctions between selfhood and social structures as well as fault lines between the sacred and the profane. The work Kelley produced throughout his life was marked by his extraordinary powers of critical reflection, relentless self-examination, and a creative—and surprising—repurposing of ideas and materials.
Reviews and More Info:
Official Mike Kelley Website
Mike Kelley at Art 21 (video interview and more)
Review by Holland Cotter in the New TImes
Review by Peter Schjeldahl in the New Yorker
Review by Ben Davis in Blouin ArtInfo
