Page 197 - ART GIANTS issue of World of Art (WOA) Contemporary Art Magazine

MIKE KELLEY:
GHOST AND SPIRIT

Moderna Museet Stockholm presents Mike Kelley: Ghost and
Spirit, the first comprehensive Scandinavian exhibition of
the influential American artist. Touring from Tate Modern in
London, the show spans Kelley’s groundbreaking career from
the 1970s to the 2000s, offering an in-depth exploration of his
provocative and often unsettling body of work.
Kelley (1954–2012) is regarded as a pioneer of “dark pop art,”
using performance, sculpture, collage, and video to dissect
late-20th-century popular culture and its role in shaping
identity. His work navigates themes of memory, fiction, desire,
and control, exposing the ideological structures that shape
American society. Much of his work foresaw what is happening
in America today, notes Hendrik Folkerts, curator of the
Stockholm iteration. Mike Kelley, Gothic Birdhouse, 1978 Photo: Brian Forrest. Courtesy Mike
Kelley Foundation for the Arts. © Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts/
Bildupphovsrätt 2025.
Mike Kelley, Switching Marys Installation view, Gagosian, New York,
2005. Photo: Fredrik Nilsen. © Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts/
Bildupphovsrätt 2025.

Mike Kelley, City 13 (AP 1), 2011 Photo: Fredrik Nilsen. © Mike Kelley
Foundation for the Arts/Bildupphovsrätt 2025..

Visitors will encounter key pieces from across Kelley’s career,
beginning with his seminal performance works of the late His creative trajectory was shaped by his involvement in
1970s, progressing through his experimental drawings and the proto-punk band Destroy All Monsters and his studies
collages of the 1980s, and culminating in the stuffed-animal at CalArts, where he absorbed the radical performance and
sculptures and multimedia installations that defined his later feminist art movements of Los Angeles. His breakthrough came
practice. His famed work Ahh… Youth! (1991), featuring a in 1992 with Helter Skelter: L.A. Art in the 1990s at MOCA, an
crocheted orange figure that later appeared on Sonic Youth’s exhibition that challenged the prevailing narratives of West
Dirty album cover, exemplifies his ability to fuse underground Coast art. Presented at leading institutions across the US,
culture with critical art discourse. Europe, Japan, and Australia, Kelley’s work remains essential
Born in Detroit, Kelley experienced deep dislocation, perceiving to contemporary art history. Mike Kelley: Ghost and Spirit offers
the world as a mediated spectacle dominated by American pop audiences a rare opportunity to experience the full scope of his
imagery. visionary practice.

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