Mike Kelley
Towhead n’Ganga enclosed in darkness, lorded over by the sexualized - folded - high priestless form
Towhead n’Ganga, enclosed in darkness, lorded over by the sexualized folded high priestless form reflects many of Mike Kelley’s works, in both its compositional and semantic qualities. The drawing on wood, the popcorn mixture, and the title all manifest a bumpy fullness, a “more-is-more” conflation between supposedly eternal spirituality and everyday stuff. The work’s title points to a serious timelessness completely belied by the materials. While the composition is attractive, the objects themselves efface a potentially straightforward meaning. This is underscored by the label left on the outer bucket, which keeps it tethered to everyday life and away from the free-floating and romantic mysticism associated with the installations of Joseph Beuys.
Mike Kelley’s sculptures, collages, performances, and videos often rework the artifacts of suburban culture into new forms: bodies, carpets, and less-distinct masses. Kelley laces the mess of erotics and death into the material stuff of the American imaginary, such as movies, country music, and stuffed animals. Somehow, Kelley manages to do so in a way that extend these materials’ predilections, rather than counter them.