Mike Kelley

Amsterdam

Widely regarded as one of the most influential artists of our time, Mike Kelley (1954-2012) produced a body of deeply innovative work mining American popular culture and both modernist and alternative traditions—which he set in relation to relentless self- and social examinations, both dark and delirious.

Born in Detroit, Kelley lived and worked in Los Angeles from the mid-1970s until his tragic death this 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—exploring 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.

His current exhibition, Mike Kelley, brings together almost 200 works, from 1974 until 2012. It is the largest exhibition of the artist’s work to-date and the first comprehensive survey since 1993.

Stedelijk Museum

Mike Kelley

December 15th, 2012 – April 1st, 2013
Museumplein 10
1071 DJ Amsterdam
The Netherlands

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