TT has taken the help of Hendrik Folkerts, curator of the exhibition "Mike Kelley – ghost and spirit" which is on display at the museum in Stockholm from May 10 to far into the autumn.
Here are his explanations as to why Kelley is more than just "the one who made the album cover for Sonic Youth's album 'Dirty'".
1. "His art does not comfort – it confronts. Kelley asks us to see what has been forgotten or discarded, and find a value in the emotional chaos it evokes. It feels relevant today, when much is suppressed in the pursuit of surface and control."
2. "He exposes childhood shadows. Through teddy bears, dolls and school photos, he makes visible how early experiences shape us – not with sentimentality, but as emotional residues we carry with us. It feels in the stomach, not just in the brain."
3. "He ridicules authorities. Inspired by post-punk's resistance, he questions every form of discipline – bodily, mental, social. It makes his art rebellious and deeply political. And yes, still highly relevant."
4. "He elevates working-class aesthetics. With roots in Detroit, he chooses 'low' materials – old textiles, plastic toys, trash – and sets them against the art world's exclusivity and money carousel. A clear gesture that gets new life."
5. "He makes the uncomfortable visible. Kelley's works create discomfort, precisely because they show what society would rather hide – the ugly, the broken, the rejected. It is art that refuses to simplify. And it is needed now more than ever."
Born: 1954 in Wayne, Michigan, USA.
Background: Studied abstract painting at the University of Michigan and began working with performance when he attended CalArts in California. He also worked extensively with sculpture and later with installations.
Link to the music scene: Was one of the founders of the band Destroy All Monsters and regularly collaborated with Sonic Youth. He was friends with Kim Gordon and made, among other things, the album cover for "Dirty".
Famous works by Mike Kelley: "Monkey Island" (1982–1983), "Sublevel" (1998), "Day is done / Extracurricular activity projective reconstructions" (2005).
Died: 2012 in what the police described as an assumed suicide.
Current: In the exhibition "Mike Kelley – ghost and spirit" at the Modern Museum in Stockholm, which has its vernissage on May 10.
