Currently on view at MOCA’s Geffen location is a retrospective by one of the most influential and important artists of our generation – Mike Kelley. Consisting of work in almost every artistic medium, including sculpture, painting, drawings on paper, performance, music, video, mosaic, and photography, the show is the largest to date for Kelley and includes 250 pieces that span his entire career. Originally organized in 2012 by Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum, the retrospective then traveled to the Centre Pompidou in Paris before coming to New York at MoMA PS1 and finally back “home” to Los Angeles, where additional works were added.
Though he was born and grew up in Detroit, Michigan, Mike Kelley was known as a LA artist and it was there that he received his MFA (CalArts), taught, and made most of his work. The themes and subjects of his work included American culture, social and religious institutions, sexuality, class relations, and repressed memory, all examined and explored in humorous, personal, and deeply critical ways. This show is highly recommended for any art lover and you may want to visit it multiple times before it closes on July 28 in order to take everything in.
Discuss Mike Kelley here.
