Double Contour with Side Bars

2000

Mixed media , 4 parts

Variable dimensions

The four parts of Double Contour with Side Bars beckon the viewer to stroll between deeply heterogeneous worlds. An installation brings together religious symbols in a plethora of statuettes and kitschy colours. At the same time, there is a monochrome white city with a collapsed mountain echoing the sacred mountain of the nearby table. An environment of red layers takes shape in a third installation, while a fourth table is reduced to its most common use as a thing to put objects on.

Mike Kelley develops a personal vocabulary to explore his spatial memory, which he already did in older works such as Educational Complex in 1995. By assembling materials from a wide variety of sources, he criticises rigid educational standards, especially those dictated by religion.

A protean, complex work, Kelley's Double Contour with Side Bars is in the Pinault Collection. It was first exhibited during the "Sequence 1" show at the Palazzo Grassi.
Exhibitions