KELLEY MINOR HISTORIES Statements, Conversations, Proposals MIKE KELLEY edited by John C. Welchman 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 his 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 MINOR between 1984 and 2002 (most of which were written to accompany exhibitions), including “Ajax,” which draws on MIKE KELLEY Homeric epic, Colgate-Palmolive advertising, 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 visu- MINOR HISTORIES al 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 accom- Statements, Conversations, Proposals pany 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. The section “Architecture” features a discussion of Kelley’s Educational Complex (1995) and an interview in which he reflects on the role of architecture in his work. Finally, the “Ufology” section considers the aesthetics and sexuality of space as manifested by UFO sightings and abduction scenarios. HISTORIES 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. Of related interest Foul Perfection Essays and Criticism EDITED BY JOHN C. WELCHMAN Mike Kelley edited by John C. Welchman Cover illustration by Mike Kelley The MIT Press Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142 http://mitpress.mit.edu 0-262-61198-8 ,!7IA2G2-gbbjif!:t;K;k;K;k MINOR HISTORIES The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England MIKE KELLEY MINOR HISTORIES statements, conversations, proposals EDITED BY JOHN C. WELCHMAN © 2004 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or me- chanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. This book was set in Frutiger by Graphic Composition, Inc., Athens, Georgia, and was printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kelley, Mike, 1954– Mike Kelley : minor histories—statements, conversations, proposals / edited by John C. Welchman. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-262-11277-9 (hc. : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-262-61198-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Kelley, Mike, 1954– 2. Conceptual art—United States—History—20th century. 3. Performance art—United States—History—20th century. I. Welchman, John C. II. Title. NX512.K46A35 2004 700Ј.92—dc21 2003052676 Kelley’s brief “Statement for Prospect 89” (facing page) was published in German (without a title) on p. 111 of the catalogue for the large international group exhibi- tion Prospect 89: Eine internationale Ausstellung aktueller Kunst at the Frankfurter Kunstverein, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany (March 21 to May 21, 1989), curated by Peter Weiermair. Clearly related to the monologues and performance scripts of Kelley’s earlier work, the piece is an exclamatory, associative text, taking off from the black-and-white diptych Wall Flowers (1988) exhibited in the show, re- produced on pp. 112–13 of the catalogue, and now used as the cover illustration of this volume. Wallflowers . those shy ones! Oh! Cling! Cling thee to the furthermost borders—the hinterlands. Sublimate, oh, sublimate thy libidinal impulses into decorative organic motifs . ornamental hair growths, aesthetically placed tattoos. Beauty-mark thyself! Yes. The meeting of the eyes. Lightning flashes. The intertwining sight lines—follow them. Yes. Glinting orbs. Gazes fixed, positioned, and mapped, uh huh. Place thyself in Polar Zones of separation. But wait! Tight wooden mind, chopped off from the body trunk. Oh! Yes! Yes! Fold the fruit away from the hard seed. Slough off thy mortal tarp and reveal thy- self . in glory ...Oh! Oh! Oh! . the essential form lies beneath . timeless. Floating, we are . in the free area designated “endless periphery.” CONTENTS Preface xii Introduction by John C. Welchman xiv STATEMENTS Ajax (1984) 2 Three Projects: Half a Man, From My Institution to Yours, Pay for Your Pleasure (1988) 12 Quotations on Art and Crime for Pay for Your Pleasure (1988) 22 Introduction to Reconstructed History (1990) 28 Alma Pater (Wolverine Den) (1991) 32 Some Aesthetic High Points (1991) 40 vi In the Image of Man (1991) 50 Radical Scavengers (Letter) (1993) 56 Missing Time: Works on Paper 1974–1976, Reconsidered (1995) 60 Goin’ Home, Goin’ Home (1995) 72 Land O’ Lakes/Land O’ Snakes (1996) 82 The Poetry of Form (1996) 94 Sublevel: Dim Recollection Illuminated by Multicolored Swamp Gas (1998) 102 Statement for the Visitor’s Gallery: Out of Actions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (1998) (with Paul McCarthy) 112 The Meaning Is Confused Spatiality, Framed (1999) 118 A Minor History: Categorical Imperative and Morgue (1999) 138 On Folk Art (2001) 144 Memory Ware (2000–01) 150 Black Out (2001) 156 On Some Figurative Artists of the Late 1960s: Responses to Questions for Eye Infection (2001–02) 164 VIDEO STATEMENTS AND PROPOSALS The Futurist Ballet (Mike Kelley, 1973) 176 CONTENTS vii Beholden to Victory (Tony Conrad, 1980–83) 180 The Banana Man (Mike Kelley, 1983) 184 EVOL (Tony Oursler, 1984) 188 Kappa (Bruce and Norman Yonemoto and Mike Kelley, 1986) 190 Family Tyranny and Cultural Soup (Paul McCarthy, 1987) 194 Sir Drone (Raymond Pettibon, 1988) 196 Blind Country (Ericka Beckman and Mike Kelley, 1989) 200 One Hundred Reasons (Bob Flanagan, Sheree Rose, and Mike Kelley, 1991) 204 Heidi: Midlife Crisis Trauma Center and Negative Media-Engram Abreaction Release Zone (Mike Kelley and Paul McCarthy, 1992) 208 Heidi’s Four Basket Dances (Mike Kelley and Paul McCarthy, 1992) 212 Three Proposals for Zoo TV (Mike Kelley, 1996) 214 Fresh Acconci (Mike Kelley and Paul McCarthy, 1996) 220 The Pole Dance (Mike Kelley and Tony Oursler in collaboration with Anita Pace, 1997) 224 Out O’ Actions (Mike Kelley and Paul McCarthy, 1998) 226 Test Room Containing Multiple Stimuli Known to Elicit Curiosity and Manipulatory Responses (Mike Kelley, 1999) and A Dance Incorporating Movements Derived from Experiments by Harry F. Harlow and Choreographed in the Manner of Martha Graham (Mike Kelley, 1999) 230 Superman Recites Selections from The Bell Jar and Other Works by Sylvia Plath (with Reference to Kandor-Con 2000) (Mike Kelley, 1999) 234 Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction #1 (A Domestic Scene) (Mike Kelley, 2000) 238 viii Runway for Interactive DJ Event (Mike Kelley, 2000) 244 Sod and Sodie Sock (Mike Kelley and Paul McCarthy, 1999–2002) 248 IMAGE-TEXTS The Poltergeist (1979) 252 We Communicate Only through Our Shared Dismissal of the Pre-linguistic: Fourteen Analyses (1995) 258 Timeless/Authorless: Four Recovered Memories (1995) 274 A Stopgap Measure (1999) 292 Meet John Doe (1999) 296 ARCHITECTURE Proposal for the Decoration of an Island of Conference Rooms (with Copy Room) for an Advertising Agency Designed by Frank Gehry (1990) 312 Architectural Non-Memory Replaced with Psychic Reality (1996) 316 Missing Space/Time: A Conversation between Mike Kelley, Kim Colin, and Mark Skiles (1996) 324 CONTENTS An Architecture Composed of the Paintings of Richard Powers and Francis ix Picabia (1997) (with Paul McCarthy) 340 UFOLOGY Light and Color, Mostly (1993) 348 Weaned on Conspiracy: A Dialogue between Chris Wilder and Mike Kelley (1998) 384 The Aesthetics of Ufology (1997/2002) 400 Index 414 x PREFACE Mike Kelley In this, the second volume of my collected writings, the focus continues to be primarily on what I call my “functional” writings—straightforward statements designed for catalogues or as press re- leases, etc. Unlike the first volume, which contains writings on the work of other artists and art- world issues, this one concentrates on my writings about my own work. They range from labor-intensive research essays such as “The Meaning Is Confused Spatiality, Framed,” written for my exhibition at Le Magasin in Grenoble in 1999, to the brief video statements originally written as handouts for public screenings. The purpose in presenting such a variety of texts is to focus on my overall output as a visual artist who also writes. The first statement in this book, “Ajax” (1984), reveals that the roots of my writings are xii in texts designed for performance. “Ajax” is one of my earliest attempts to write using the “au- thorial” voice (in contrast to performative “voices”), a voice that presumes to understand, or even “speak for,” the reader. In “Ajax,” this authorial posture is overtly ironic—but this does not re- main the case. In the next statement published here, “Three Projects,” written a couple of years later for the Renaissance Society in Chicago in 1988, the irony has been removed and the piece functions as a direct statement about the works presented in the exhibition, giving some indication of my artistic intentions. But as readers will see, around 1995 I began to tire of such a stance, and the mannerisms of my performance writings crept back into my otherwise normative statements.