Mike Kelly

Gagosian Gallery is pleased to present sculptures and a large-scale installation by Mike Kelley in this fully illustrated catalogue documenting the 2011 Los Angeles and London exhibitions.

The popular Superman story recounts the adventures of an alien being sent to Earth as a baby to escape the total destruction of his home planet Krypton. The "Kandors" series, which Kelley initiated in 1999, are sculptural depictions of Superman’s actual birthplace, Kandor. However, it turns out that Kandor was not, in fact, destroyed. Shrunk and bottled by a villain, the futuristic city was later rescued by Superman and protected under a bell jar in his sanctuary, the Fortress of Solitude. In these recent exhibitions, Kelley depicts Superman’s Fortress of Solitude as a sort of bunker in ruins.

Mike Kelley was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1954. He lives and works in Los Angeles. He studied at the California Institute of the Arts and the University of Michigan. Recent major exhibitions include "Mike Kelley: Educational Complex Onwards: 1995-2008," WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain (2008); "Mike Kelley: Profondeurs Vertes," Musée du Louvre (2006); and "Mike Kelley: The Uncanny," Tate Liverpool.



About the Author

Jeffrey Sconce is an Associate Professor in the Department of Radio, Television, and Film at Northwestern University.