MOCA

Philippe Vergne first encountered the work of Mike Kelley in Helter Skelter: L.A. Art in the 1990s, the landmark exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Now the director of the museum, Vergne reflects on MIKE KELLEY, the largest exhibition of Kelley's work to date and the late artist's unofficial Los Angeles homecoming.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Kelley moved to Los Angeles in the 1970s, where he was an influential presence as an artist and teacher. Kelley's ongoing relationship with MOCA is evident in the museum's deep collection of his work as well as the time-based work Kelley organized and performed at the museum throughout his career. MIKE KELLEY, on view at MOCA through July 28, 2014, includes works from the collection that range from early performance drawings to fully realized installations, such as Kelley's masterful Pay for Your Pleasure (1988).

MIKE KELLEY is organized by the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and curated by former Stedelijk Museum Director Ann Goldstein. Curator of the first exhibition concept is Dr. Eva Meyer-Hermann. Before arriving in Los Angeles, the exhibition traveled to the Center Pompidou in France and MoMA PS1 in New York. Under the guidance of MOCA Curator Bennett Simpson, MIKE KELLEY includes new pieces and installations, including Framed and Frame (Miniature Reproduction "Chinatown Wishing Well" Built by Mike Kelley after "Miniature Reproduction 'Seven Star Cavern' Built by Prof. H. K. Lu") (1988), the artist's installation based on a wishing well in Los Angeles' Chinatown. In the spring, Kelley's famed Mobile Homestead (2013) will travel from the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit to The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA.

"When you look at this exhibition, not only do you have an artist who has changed the way we think of art, who brought to art music, performances and popular culture, who has made a major aesthetic shift in our understanding of art, but has done that also with an understanding of what it means to be an artist in the public realm, and be a civic artist," says Vergne. Show less