For the first time in Belgium, Wiels presents a retrospective dedicated to Mike Kelley, one of the most significant artists of the last 30 years. The exhibition will be on view through July 27, 2008.
Educational Complex Onwards, 1995 – 2008 is composed of a large selection of recent works — installations, videos, photographs, sculptures and paintings — on loan from some of the most prestigious international collections. The exhibition is conceived as a history, in which every work forms a chapter. Its unfurling allows to understand how and why Mike Kelley has, since 1995, made use of the notion autobiograhy to explore, in a poetic way, the forms of power and the power of forms.
Mike Kelley's work is characterised by the way it integrates popular culture in an artistic practice, nourished by philosophy, literature and art history, and by the exuberance of his visual style which is opposed to the smooth surfaces of minimalism as well as to the neutrality of pop art and abstraction. With elements from his personal story as well as from a broader cultural history, Mike Kelley pursues a poetic deconstruction of the structures surrounding us.
Mike Kelley, born in Detroit in 1954, lives and works in Los Angeles. He has worked together with numerous artists notably Paul McCarthy, Jim Shaw and Tony Oursler and musicians such as Sonic Youth. Since the mid-80's, his work has been exhibited in the largest museums (Whitney Museum, Centre Pompidou, Van Abbemuseum, Le Louvre, Wiener Secession, MOCA in Los Angeles...) and prestigious international events (Documenta, Venice Biennial, Lyon Biennial...).
Educational Complex Onwards, 1995 – 2008 will occupy the three exhibition floors of Wiels and will be accompanied by a complementary program and a catalogue, publication date June 2008. Curator, Anne Pontegnie.
The exhibition will be accompanied by an English catalogue published by JRP/Ringier. Texts of Diedrich Diederichsen, Anthony Vidler, Howard Singerman, Mike Kelley and Anne Pontegnie will develop the topics raised in the exhibition. Texts and illustrations will be associated to draw up a portrait set of themes of more than ten years of creation and research. -- www.gagosian.com
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