Artist's Biography

Mike Kelley, an artist originally from Detroit, Michigan, currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California.  He received his MFA in 1978 from the California Institute of the Arts and his BFA in 1976 from the University of Michigan. Kelley’s work ranges from highly symbolic and ritualistic performance pieces, to arrangements of stuffed-animal sculptures, to wall-sized drawings, to multi-room installations that restage institutional environments (schools, offices, zoos), to extended collaborations with artists such as Paul McCarthy, Tony Oursler, and the band Sonic Youth.  Recent shows include solo exhibitions “Mike Kelley: Educational Complex Onwards: 1995-2008,” WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels, Belgium (2008), “Mike Kelley: Memory Ware Flats,” Skarstedt Fine Art, New York, New York (2007), and group shows “Collateral: When Art Looks Like Cinema.”  Hangar Bicocca, Milan, Italy (2007), and “Make Your Own Life:  Artist’s in and Out of  Cologne.” Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle; Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami (2007).

Curator's Biography

Matt Wardell is an artist and curator living in Los Angeles.  Wardell is founding member of the artist collective 10lb Ape (The Pound Ape).  Wardell has shown work at REDCAT, Black Dragon Society, 16:1 Gallery, SFMOMA, among others.  Recent excursions include a solo project in Mexicali (Baja California, Mexico) and a Ten Pound Ape project at the Claremont Museum of Art.