short biography

Mike Kelley (b. 1954, Wayne, Detroit; d. 2012, South Pasadena, Los Angeles, it appeared he had committed suicide) was an extremely influential artist of our time, who disrespectful commented the American popular and youth culture in his work. He collaborated with many artists and musicians, including Tony Oursler, Bob Flanagan, Paul McCarthy, John Miller., and Kim Gordon with her influential rock band Sonic Youth.
His diverse oeuvre includes installations, sculptures, performances, drawings, painting, video, photography, sound works and texts.
In his work Ahh...Youth! (New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Alter Egos - Projected Selves," November 22, 2021-May 1, 2022), Kelley lines up a kitschy hodgepodge of yarn dolls and stuffed animals in a series of mug shots of outsiders with a caricature of himself. He says that such symbol-laden toys and similar cultural objects exert a troubling control: "You are them whether you like it or not."
In 1992 and 1997 he participated in documenta 9 and 10 in Kassel.
Mike Kelley studied at the California Institute of the Arts, Los Angeles with Laurie Anderson and John Baldessari.

https://www.mikekelleyfoundation.org

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collection/s

ARCO Foundation Collection Artangel, London Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, München Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen Centre national des arts plastiques, Paris Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia D. Daskalopoulos Collection Deichtorhallen Hamburg & Sammlung Falckenberg Deste Foundation EVN Sammlung Ellipse Foundation Art Centre, Alcoitao FRAC OCCITANIE Montpellier Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia Fondation Cartier, Paris Fotomuseum Winterthur Frac Sud, Marseille Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin Hamburger Kunsthalle Herbert Foundation, Ghent Initial Access - Frank Cohen Collection, Wolverhampton JULIA STOSCHEK FOUNDATION DÜSSELDORF Kunsthalle zu Kiel Kunstmuseum Basel / Museum für Gegenwartskunst Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk MACBA Barcelona ' MCA Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago MOCA The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Malmö Konsthall Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis MuHKA - Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp ' Museo Jumex, Mexico City Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach Museum Brandhorst, München National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa Pinakothek der Moderne, München RUBELL MUSEUM Miami Rennie Collection, Vancouver S.M.A.K. Ghent SAMMLUNG GRÄSSLIN St. Georgen Sammlung Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt Sammlung Goetz, München Sammlung Schürmann Berlin Staatliche Museen zu Berlin TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza, Wien The Broad, Los Angeles The Progressive Art Collection, Mayfield Village The Vleeshal, Middelburg Trevi Flash Art Museum Vancouver Art Gallery Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
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galleries

1301PE, Los Angeles Art & Public Cabinet, Genf BERNIER/ELIADES GALLERY Athens Carolina Nitsch, New York Gagosian Gallery Athens Gagosian Gallery Beverly Hills Gagosian Gallery Geneva & Gstaad Gagosian Gallery London Gagosian Gallery New York Gagosian Gallery Paris & Le Bourget Gagosian Gallery Rome galerie de multiples Paris HAUSER & WIRTH Hong Kong HAUSER & WIRTH London HAUSER & WIRTH Los Angeles HAUSER & WIRTH New York HAUSER & WIRTH Somerset HAUSER & WIRTH Zürich IKON Ltd, Santa Monica JABLONKA GALERIE, COLOGNE Juana de Aizpuru, Madrid ° Metro Pictures Gallery, New York Patrick Painter, Santa Monica Wako Works of Art, Tokyo
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