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“I felt that these kinds of terms were used to put me in my place, because my work didn’t fit the canon of work that was popular at that moment. It was simply a cheap put–down.” —Mike Kelley
Artist Mike Kelley passed away seven years ago today, on January 31, 2012 (b. October 27, 1954). At the time, Holland Cotter called Kelley, “one of the most influential American artists of the past quarter century and a pungent commentator on American class, popular culture and youthful rebellion.” But was he a bad boy? In this clip by Art21 from 2010, Kelley speaks to his being labeled as a “bad boy” early in his career and ties it to the establishment’s rejection of his processes and style.
Bad boy or not, Kelley is now intimately identified as one of the most iconic Los Angeles artists of his generation. As such, one of the highlights of the forthcoming Frieze Los Angeles art fair will be the installation of Kelley’s 1999 Unisex Love Nest for the first time in LA since it’s first creation, presented by Hauser & Wirth.
