Touted as one of the most influential contemporary artists of the last 25 years, Mike Kelley passed away in 2012 but his work lives on and has been collected into an exhibition called Mike Kelley: Eternity is a Long Time, sponsored by Pirelli and presented by the HangarBicocca in Milan.
The exhibition is a collection of Kelley's work from 2000 til 2006 and contains pieces on loan from prominent institutions around the world, including: the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, the François Pinault Foundation in Paris and Venice, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary in Vienna, and the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts in Los Angeles. Key pieces on display include the Profondeurs Vertes (2006) commissioned by the Louvre, Runway for Interactive DJ Event and Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #1 (A Domestic Scene) (2000), both from his first solo show in Italy. The title of the exhibition stems from a line of dialogue in Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #1, hence its placement at the beginning of the exhibition.
The exhibit spans the entire 42,000 square foot space and isn't organized chronologically, but instead was left open to illustrate the "freedom" and "continuity" in Kelley's work. The curators say that the exhibition was created as a means to come to grips with Mike Kelley's "complex and highly diverse body of work, while simultaneously creating the opportunity to examine the fascinating web of cultural aspects and autobiographical memories that are so engrained in his art."
Mike Kelley: Eternity is a Long Time
HangarBicocca
May 24 through September 8
