PDF Mike Kelley Arenas Cary Levine Mike Kelley 9781616237189 Books
Download As PDF : Mike Kelley Arenas Cary Levine Mike Kelley 9781616237189 Books
Mike Kelley’s Arenas series of the late 80s and early 90s mark a shift away from the artist’s performance-oriented activity and towards a new sculptural dexterity, in which cultural resonance is elicited from an eerie reframing of everyday objects. First exhibited in 1990 at Metro Pictures, the Arenas are comprised of stuffed animals arranged around the edges of blankets (or occasionally posed isolate in their center). Ten or twenty such toys in such groupings might convey a cheery childhood picnic scenario, but Kelley rarely selects more than five or six, and places them carefully so that their cuddliness and their capacity to comfort is entirely canceled out. Instead, we encounter the toy as a commodity entity―a mass-manufactured product positioned to enter into play but far from inviting it. Skarstedt’s exhibition of seven of the eleven Arenas is here recorded in superb installation shots and with critical commentary.
PDF Mike Kelley Arenas Cary Levine Mike Kelley 9781616237189 Books
"Word has just been released that brilliant conceptual and performance artist Mike Kelley died today at age 58. The art world is jarred and absorbing the magnitude of his loss to the contemporary art form especially in his adopted home of Los Angeles. Michael "Mike" Kelley was born in Michigan in 1954 and was an imaginative contemporary American artist. His work involved found objects, textile banners, drawings, assemblage, collage, performance and video. He often worked collaboratively and had done projects with artists Paul McCarthy, Tony Oursler and John Miller. Kelley was often associated with the concept of abjection (`sunk to or existing in a low state or condition).
Kelley's work was inspired by diverse sources such as history, philosophy, politics, underground music, decorative arts and working-class artistic expression. His art often examined class and gender issues as well as issues of normality, criminality and perversion. This book, the last to be published during Kelley's lifetime, is called ARENAS and marked Kelley's movement form performance art to a new sculptural dexterity, in which cultural resonance is elicited from an eerie reframing of everyday objects. These works involve stuffed animals arranged around blankets (or arenas). This book from an installation in 1990 shows ten or twenty such toys grouped `to convey a cheery childhood picnic scenario, but Kelley rarely selects more than five or six, and places them carefully so that their cuddliness and their capacity to comfort is entirely canceled out. Instead, we encounter the toy as a commodity entity-a mass-manufactured product positioned to enter into play but far from inviting it.'
The actual design of the book is very fine and the color reproductions of the installation photographs are vivid. Anthropologist Mary Douglas terms these installation meanings as `a mild case of "pollution behavior": activities likely to cross closely-held boundaries or repudiate cherished designations, like putting boots on the kitchen table or eating spaghetti in bed. In this case, and especially in the context of an urbane Upper East Side gallery, it's the contact with the floor that evokes pollution. Not just by using obviously worn and recycled objects, but by literally reducing art objects to the level of the floor, Kelley manages to interrogate assumptions about art and also the viewer's feeling for handmade and beloved objects. Kelley melds the personal, cherished nature of stuffed animals and security blankets and the costly, refined nature of blue-chip art to show us how flimsy the narrative of sacred objects can be.' Though likely there will be a fitting tribute in the form of a Catalogue Raisonné, for now this little book is a tender reminder of the gentle genius who upset the art apple cart so generously. Grady Harp, February 12"
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Tags : Mike Kelley Arenas [Cary Levine, Mike Kelley] on . Mike Kelley’s <I>Arenas</I> series of the late 80s and early 90s mark a shift away from the artist’s performance-oriented activity and towards a new sculptural dexterity,Cary Levine, Mike Kelley,Mike Kelley Arenas,Skarsdedt,161623718X,Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions - General,Individual Artists - Monographs,Sculpture Installation,ART / Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions / General,ART / Individual Artists / Monographs,ART / Sculpture Installation,Art,Art Art Instruction,Art/Conceptual,Art/Individual Artists - Monographs,Conceptual,GENERAL,General Adult,History,INDIVIDUAL SCULPTORS AND THEIR WORK,Non-Fiction,Pictorial treatment,Sculpture,United States
Mike Kelley Arenas Cary Levine Mike Kelley 9781616237189 Books Reviews :
Mike Kelley Arenas Cary Levine Mike Kelley 9781616237189 Books Reviews
- Word has just been released that brilliant conceptual and performance artist Mike Kelley died today at age 58. The art world is jarred and absorbing the magnitude of his loss to the contemporary art form especially in his adopted home of Los Angeles. Michael "Mike" Kelley was born in Michigan in 1954 and was an imaginative contemporary American artist. His work involved found objects, textile banners, drawings, assemblage, collage, performance and video. He often worked collaboratively and had done projects with artists Paul McCarthy, Tony Oursler and John Miller. Kelley was often associated with the concept of abjection (`sunk to or existing in a low state or condition).
Kelley's work was inspired by diverse sources such as history, philosophy, politics, underground music, decorative arts and working-class artistic expression. His art often examined class and gender issues as well as issues of normality, criminality and perversion. This book, the last to be published during Kelley's lifetime, is called ARENAS and marked Kelley's movement form performance art to a new sculptural dexterity, in which cultural resonance is elicited from an eerie reframing of everyday objects. These works involve stuffed animals arranged around blankets (or arenas). This book from an installation in 1990 shows ten or twenty such toys grouped `to convey a cheery childhood picnic scenario, but Kelley rarely selects more than five or six, and places them carefully so that their cuddliness and their capacity to comfort is entirely canceled out. Instead, we encounter the toy as a commodity entity-a mass-manufactured product positioned to enter into play but far from inviting it.'
The actual design of the book is very fine and the color reproductions of the installation photographs are vivid. Anthropologist Mary Douglas terms these installation meanings as `a mild case of "pollution behavior" activities likely to cross closely-held boundaries or repudiate cherished designations, like putting boots on the kitchen table or eating spaghetti in bed. In this case, and especially in the context of an urbane Upper East Side gallery, it's the contact with the floor that evokes pollution. Not just by using obviously worn and recycled objects, but by literally reducing art objects to the level of the floor, Kelley manages to interrogate assumptions about art and also the viewer's feeling for handmade and beloved objects. Kelley melds the personal, cherished nature of stuffed animals and security blankets and the costly, refined nature of blue-chip art to show us how flimsy the narrative of sacred objects can be.' Though likely there will be a fitting tribute in the form of a Catalogue Raisonné, for now this little book is a tender reminder of the gentle genius who upset the art apple cart so generously. Grady Harp, February 12
