
The first major UK exhibition of American artist Mike Kelley.
Discover the elaborate, provocative and imaginary worlds created by experimental artist Mike Kelley.
From the late 1970s to 2012, Kelley made a diverse body of work using drawing, collage, performance, found objects, and video.
Spanning Kelley’s entire career, the exhibition features his breakthrough ‘craft’ sculptures made from textile and plush toys through to his multi-media installations such as Day Is Done.
Drawing on references from popular and underground culture, literature, and philosophy, Kelley explores how the roles we play in society are entangled with historical fact and imaginary characters from the films and images we consume.
Over a decade since his passing, Kelley’s reflections on identity and memory continue to resonate.
Organised by Tate Modern in collaboration with Bourse de Commerce, Paris, K21, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf and Moderna Museet, Stockholm
One of the most prominent artists of his generation, Mike Kelley produced a vast range of works in drawing, sculpture, performance, music, video, photography and painting, as well as critical texts and collaborative works. He completed his studies at the University of Michigan and the California Institute of the Arts in 1976 and 1978 respectively. Kelley moved to the West Coast in the mid-1970s, and lived and worked in Los Angeles until his death in 2012.




Tate Modern is one of the world’s most iconic museums of modern and contemporary art, located on the South Bank of the River Thames in London. Occupying the former Bankside Power Station, the museum’s dramatic industrial architecture—most notably its cavernous Turbine Hall—has made it a destination for art lovers and architectural enthusiasts alike.

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