City 0
2007
Glass and polyester resins mounted on Plexiglas, on grey formica base with electrical light
Element: 30 cm (11 13/16 in.) Base: 120 cm (47 1/4 in.) Diameter: 80 cm (31 1/2 in.)
Mike Kelley's sculpture City 0 is part of an installation about Kandor, a mythical city on the planet Krypton that appears in the Superman comic books. Using urethane resin in bright, tart colours and artificial light, he appropriates this world reduced to miniature by the evil Brainiac and bottled by Superman, who has never known this place. The artist thus evokes magic, treasures and lost paradises.
A California figure in freak art, since the 1980s Kelley has made assemblages offering critical reflections on American society by playing with tales from popular culture. His radical, ironic, poetic and deeply autobiographical works referred to American counter-culture before making a mark on the contemporary art world.
City 0 was presented by the Pinault Collection in 2009 during the "Qui a peur des artistes ?" (“Who’s Afraid of Artists?”) show at the Palais des Arts in Dinard.
A California figure in freak art, since the 1980s Kelley has made assemblages offering critical reflections on American society by playing with tales from popular culture. His radical, ironic, poetic and deeply autobiographical works referred to American counter-culture before making a mark on the contemporary art world.
City 0 was presented by the Pinault Collection in 2009 during the "Qui a peur des artistes ?" (“Who’s Afraid of Artists?”) show at the Palais des Arts in Dinard.
Exhibitions
Mike KELLEY © Adagp, Paris.
Courtesy West of Rome, Inc.
Photo : Fredrik Nilsen
