Posted on 02/07/2012 2:18:27 PM PST by BenLurkin
Mike Kelley, the daring and influential contemporary installation artist ... has died, police said Wednesday. He was 57.
Kelley's body was found at his home Tuesday night and it appeared he had committed suicide, South Pasadena Police Sgt.
"His work was widely collected and exhibited internationally," said Stephanie Barron, senior curator of modern art at Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "... Artists like that don't come around very often."
Kelley's work will be included in the upcoming 2012 Whitney biennial in New York.
"Mike was an irresistible force in contemporary art," Kelley's studio, Gagosian Gallery, said in a statement that the Los Angeles Times published on its website. "We cannot believe he is gone. But we know his legacy will continue to touch and challenge anyone who crosses its path. We will miss him. We will keep him with us."
Kelley's notable works included a life-size re-creation of his childhood home on wheels, tiny rendition of Superman's extraterrestrial birthplace encased in a glass jug and several spherical sculptures made of stuffed animals.
"His works often violated notions of so called good taste and blurred the boundaries between art, music and popular culture," said Barron.
He erected a life-sized Colonel Sanders statue alongside a miniature Sigmund Freud at the Gagosian in Los Angeles in 2011 and was influenced by old yearbooks for a sprawling 2005 exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery in New York that featured a 15-foot-long missile called the "gospel rocket."
Kelley was a student of conceptual artist John Baldessari, and he collaborated with fellow bold artists like Paul McCarthy and Tony Oursler. The band Sonic Youth used Kelley's work on the album cover for "Dirty" released in 1992.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbs8.com ...
Maybe his suicide was performance art?
“ART” today,,,, can be a booger with a hair in it.
Who?
Looks like any pinata shop in East LA.
He certainly didn’t bring much beauty into the world.
They can stick the Colonel and Siggy baby in the coffin with him. They won’t be missed.
Looks like Cold Stone and priced the same.
Have you no TASTE?? The booger needs two hairs in it to qualify as "ART". C'mon, get with the program. :=)
Ever walked up to a real Picasso,that is when I knew their is some real mental illness in society.
Ever walked up to a real Picasso,that is when I knew there is some real mental illness in society!
Artist?
He should have been committed.
How about stuffed and on all fourswith a carrot up his arse
Didn’t he have a gallery in Madrid NM ....to.....:o)
I went to computer tech school at Control Data in the mid 80’s.. Was going to be hired by NASA at the Glenn Center, but they had to hire a minority woman. Went to work night shift in a sheet metal shop to pay my bills. Pretty bitter about that. The Control Data school was a complete gov’ment scam.
Don’t forget brave. It takes true bravery to make art like this.
Artist? Being an artist myself and working hard to make something good these guys frustrate the heck out of me.
They make beaucoup bucks and then can’t cope...it’s hard not to feel they are spoiled.
I mean, at least when Van Gogh offed himself he left real art behind.
Sorry for anyone who loved him, but now the artworld vultures will raise the price on that junk.
Glitch! I have no clue why my post to another thread ended up here! However, I’m planning on doing a series of Booger/Hair ART, that will stun the Art World!
“Ah you tasteless uncultured mouthbreathing conservative philistines. You just don’t appreciate the genius of such progessive, nuanced, boundary breaking art—just ask any liberal Occupier—they will be glad to explain.”
lol, or Yoko Ono...
Graffiti taggers have more talent.
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