Minor Histories: Statements, Conversations, Proposals (Writing Art) [Paperback]

Mike Kelley (Author), John C. Welchman (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Writing Art | Publication Date: February 6, 2004

What John C. Welchman calls the "blazing network of focused conflations" from which Mike Kelley's styles are generated is on display in all its diversity in this second volume of the artist's writings. The first volume, Foul Perfection, contained thematic essays and writings about other artists; this collection concentrates on Kelley's own work, ranging from texts in "voices" that grew out of scripts for performance pieces to expository critical and autobiographical writings.Minor Histories organizes Kelley's writings into five sections. "Statements" consists of twenty pieces produced between 1984 and 2002 (most of which were written to accompany exhibitions), including "Ajax," which draws on Homer, Colgate- Palmolive, and Longinus to present its eponymous hero; "Some Aesthetic High Points," an exercise in autobiography that counters the standard artist bio included in catalogs and press releases; and a sequence of "creative writings" that use mass cultural tropes in concert with high art mannerisms--approximating in prose the visual styles that characterize Kelley's artwork. "Video Statements and Proposals" are introductions to videos made by Kelley and other artists, including Paul McCarthy and Bob Flanagan and Sheree Rose. "Image-Texts" offers writings that accompany or are part of artworks and installations. This section includes "A Stopgap Measure," Kelley's zestful millennial essay in social satire, and "Meet John Doe," a collage of appropriated texts. "Architecture" features an discussion of Kelley's Educational Complex (1995) and an interview in which he reflects on the role of architecture in his work. Finally, "Ufology" considers the aesthetics and sexuality of space as manifested by UFO sightings and abduction scenarios.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This collection of essays and illustrations documents the work of Kelley, the Los Angeles-based artist who once drew a swastika on Abe Lincoln’s forehead and called the resulting image With Malice toward None: With Charity for All; who founded the ironic noise band Destroy All Monsters before punk broke; and who posited, in Fresh Acconci (1996), "a specialized subcultural erotica for the artworld despite what could be construed as its deconstructive pretensions"—among many other actions and reactions. For this volume, UCSD art historian Welchman divides Kelley’s texts into five categories. The first 20 brief "Statements" provide Kelley’s frank commentary on a particular piece’s intentions or backstory. The much longer essay "The Meaning is Confused, Spatiality, Framed" concerns multiple pieces, and includes a discussion of Harry Harlow’s experiments with primates and emotion, while the last piece of the section comprises a set of answers to questions posed by the curators of Eye Infection, a 2001 group show at Holland’s Stedelijk Museum. Three other sections, "Image-Texts," "Architecture" and "Ufology" concern Kelley’s work with text panels, proposed textual interventions and UFO imagery. Many of these pieces have been published before in art magazines, but anyone who cares about post-1960s performance and video art will be very glad to have them in one place. Newcomers to the artist’s work may prefer to start with Foul Perfection, Kelley’s set of essays and commentaries on other artists, since writing about the work of others affords Kelley more opportunity for stretching out and unpacking the sort of startling historical cross-connections and commentaries that make his own work so compelling. But whether writing about his work or that of others, Kelley remains one of the most incisive artists around. 62 illustrations.
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About the Author

Mike Kelley is a Los Angeles-based artist, noise musician, and writer. He is a member of the graduate faculty in the M.F.A. program at Art Center College of Design, Pasadena. John C. Welchman is Professor of Modern Art History in the Visual Arts Department at the University of California, San Diego.

Product Details

• Paperback: 457 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (February 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262611988
• ISBN-13: 978-0262611985
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 7.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,132,253 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)