Issue No. 167: Mike Kelley: 1954 - 2012

Born Detroit, 1954; lives and works in Los Angeles 
> Education
1976–78
M.F.A., California Institute of Arts, Valencia
1972–76
B.F.A., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
1975
Forms artists' collective Poetics with Tony Oursler and Don Krieger
1974
Forms artists' collective and band Destroy All Monsters with Jim Shaw, Carey Loren, and Niagara 
> Selected Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
1998
"Strange Früt: Detroit Culture," Centrum Beeldende Kunst/Villa Alkmaer, Rotterdam
"Destroy All Monsters Archive," Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
1997
"The Poetics Project: 1977–1997 (Documenta version)," The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; catalogue
"Mike Kelley: 1985–1996," Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona; Rooseum, Malmö, Sweden; and Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands; catalogue
1996
"Land O’ Lakes," Wako Works of Art, Tokyo; catalogue
1995
"Toward a Utopian Arts Complex," Metro Pictures, New York
"Mike Kelley: Recent Work," Susanne Hilberry Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan
"The Thirteen Seasons (Heavy on the Winter)," Jablonka Galerie, Cologne; catalogue
1993
"Mike Kelley: Catholic Tastes," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Los Angeles Museum of Art; and Haus der Kunst, Munich; catalogue
1992
"The Riddle of the Sphinx" and "Pansy Metal/Clovered Hoof," Fabric Workshop, Philadelphia
"Mike Kelley," Kunsthalle, Basel; Institute of Contemporary Art, London; and CAPC Musée d’art contemporain, Bordeaux, France; catalogue
1991
"Mike Kelley: Half a Man," Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.; catalogue
"Lumpenrole," Galerie Peter Pakesch, Vienna; Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Ghent
1990
Galerie Ghislaine Hussenot, Paris
Metro Pictures, New York
1989
"Mike Kelley," Jablonka Galerie, Cologne; catalogue
"Pansy Metal/Clovered Hoof," Metro Pictures, New York
1985
"Plato’s Cave, Rothko’s Chapel, Lincoln’s Profile," Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles; Artists Space and Metro Pictures, New York; published as artist’s book, New City Editions, Venice, California
1984
Performance "The Sublime," Museum of Contemporary Arts, Los Angeles; Metro Pictures, New York; and Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles
1982–1983
"Monkey Island/Confusion," Metro Pictures, New York, 1982; performance, Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center, Venice, California, 1983; Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles
1981
"Meditation on a Can of Vernors," Riko Muzuno Gallery, Los Angeles; performance, Los Angeles
1979
"The Poltergeist: A Work between David Askevold and Mike Kelley," Foundation for Art Resources, Los Angeles
Group Exhibitions
1997
"Documenta X," Kassel, Germany; catalogue
"Art at the End of the 20th Century," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; catalogue
1996
"Distemper: Dissonant Themes in the Art of the 1990s," Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.; catalogue
1985, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995
"Whitney Biennial," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; catalogues
1994
"Hors limites: L’art est la vie," Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou, Paris; catalogue
1992
"Doubletake: Collective Memory and Current Art," Haywood Gallery, London; and Kunsthalle, Vienna; catalogue
"Post Human," FAE Musée d’art contemporain, Pully/Lausanne, Switzerland; Castello di Rivoli, Turin; Deste Foundation, Athens; Edelman, Lausanne; Deichtorhallen, Hamburg; and Israel Museum, Jerusalem; catalogue
"Désordres: Nan Goldin, Mike Kelley, Kiki Smith, Jana Sterbak, Tunga," Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris; catalogue
"LAX," Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna; catalogue
1991
"Metropolis: International Art Exhibition, Berlin 1991," Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin; catalogue
"Lieux communs, figures singulières," Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris; catalogue
1990
"Le désenchantement du monde," Villa Arson, Nice; catalogue
"Just Pathetic," Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles; catalogue

1988
"The 43rd Biennale of Venice, Aperto ’88," Venice; catalogue
1987
"Avant-Garde in the Eighties," Los Angeles County Museum of Art; catalogue
1984
"Fifth Biennale of Sydney—Private Symbol: Social Metaphor," The Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; catalogue
1980
"The Parasite Lilly," Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, California Institute of Arts, Valencia; University of California, San Diego; The Kitchen, New York; and Slusser Gallery, Ann Arbor, Michigan 
> Selected References
1996
Rosalind Krauss, "Inform without Conclusion," October 78 (fall): 86–105
1995
Michael Kimmelman, "Mike Kelley," The New York Times, November 24
1994
Michael Duncan, "Kelley’s Junk Shop Pop," Art in America 82, no. 6: 84–89
1993
Nancy Princethal, "Mike Kelley at Metro Pictures," Art in America, April: 127
Roberta Smith, "Mike Kelley’s Messages: Mixed and Mystical," The New York Times, November 5
1992
Alain-Henri François, "Lieux communs, figures singulières banal," Voir (February): 16f
1991
Michael Kimmelman, "Mike Kelley’s Toys Play Nasty Games," The New York Times, April 7
1988
Eleanor Heartney, "Mike Kelley, Metro Pictures," Artnews 87, no. 9 (November): 174–75
1987
Holland Cotter, "Eight Artists Interviewed," Art in America 75, no. 5: 162–97
1986
Dan Cameron, "Mike Kelley’s Art of Violation," Arts Magazine (June): 4–17
1979
Richard Armstrong, "Mike Kelley," Artforum (November): 75–78 
> Selected Awards
1992
Distinguished Alumni Award, University of Michigan School of Art and Design, Ann Arbor
1991
Skowhegan Medal for mixed media
1990
Museum Program Exhibition Grant for a retrospective exhibition at ICA, Boston, National Endowment for the Arts; grant rescinded by then-NEA chairman John Frohnmeyer
1987
Award in the Visual Arts, North Carolina
1985
Fellowship, National Endowment for the Visual Arts, Washington, D.C.
1984
Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant, New York 
> Selected Collections
Art Institute of Chicago
Baltimore Museum of Art
The Detroit Institute of Arts
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Commits suicide in his home, Los Angeles, Ca.