mike kelley • collages

[all mike kelley, collage on paper, 1995. left: satanic/pagan indoctrination. right: subliminal depiction of coital and lesbian activities.]

social norms are best deconstructed through irreverence. mike kelley is a genius at this. he takes the creepy artificiality found in b-rate catalogue / advertising photography and then makes us pee our pants giggling with the captions he devises. i also love how degraded these are as objects, because the photos are printed on such cheap, thin paper they crinkle up when glue is applied to them. they all end up looking exactly like collages you made in elementary school.

art21 did a great segment on mike kelley and you can watch clips from the show and read interviews with him here. the collages here were all shown in new york in 2005 at metro pictures as part of a group show with handful of other artists they represent. also check out more of mike kelly's work here.

[all mike kelley, collage on paper, 1995. top: promoting orality. bottom: trained for confinement.]