Mike Kelley (1954-2012)

Mike Kelley était un artiste que j'appréciais beaucoup, auteur d'œuvres particulièrement fortes et à l'humour décapant. Il est décédé récemment (31/01 ou 01/02/2012, suicide probable).

On se souviendra notamment de la gigantesque installation "Sod and Sodie Sock Comp. O.S.O.", en collaboration avec Paul McCarthy, présenté à la Biennale de Lyon en 2003.

On peut actuellement voir l'une de ses œuvres au Centre Pompidou Metz, dans le cadre de l'exposition Erres : "Educational Complex", maquette retraçant les lieux de son enfance, espaces de contraintes…

À ce qu'il me semble, l'art n'a probablement que peu de possibilités de changer ce qu'il dénonce du monde, mais il a au moins le pouvoir de nous aider à nous sentir moins seuls face à ce monde.

But Fontana*, who saw Kelley last week for dinner, said that Kelley's art-world accomplishments had a price, as he had been actively struggling with what it means to succeed in a world that has become more materialistic and foreign to him.

"He had a deep discomfort in seeing what the art world is now," Fontana said. "He didn't like the fact that everything has become so corporate. He said to me: 'If I were to start now, I would never become a visual artist.'

"He really wanted to be an important artist, and he worked all of his life for that. He found himself at the top of his game and then found that the world he was at the top of was a world that he didn't like. That's intense existentially."

(Jori Finkel, "Mike Kelley dies at 57 ; L.A. contemporary artist", Los Angeles Times, 02/02/2012)

* Emi Fontana, curateur