Mary Kelly (artist)
Encyclopedia
Mary Kelly is an American
conceptual art
ist, feminist, educator, and writer.
Mary Kelly has contributed extensively to the discourse of feminism
and postmodernism
through her large-scale narrative installation
s and theoretical writings. Kelly’s work mediates between conceptual art and the more intimate interests of artists of the 1980s. Her work has been exhibited internationally and she is considered among the most influential contemporary art
ists working today. Mary Kelly is Professor of Art at the University of California, Los Angeles
, where she is Head of Interdisciplinary Studio, an area she initiated for artists engaged in site-specific
, collective, and project based work. Mary Kelly is represented by Postmasters
in New York and Rosamund Felsen in Los Angeles.
(1984–89), Kelly deals with collective memories of women. Its object is to specify the discourses that define and regulate feminine identities. In the Ballad of Kastriot Rexhepi (2001), panels of lint, formed in a domestic dryer, are joined together to form undulating waves that tell the story of a child abandoned during the war in Kosovo. As part of this work, Kelly commissioned the composer, Michael Nyman
to create a score for the ballad that was performed by soprano Sarah Leonard and the Nyman Quartet at the opening of the exhibition at the Santa Monica Museum of Art. For Love Songs (2005), Kelly enlisted the help of young women interested in the philosophies and legacies of the women’s movement to restage historical photographs of protests some thirty years after they were taken. Her “remixes” are just approximate enough to allow for real differences between versions, but similar enough to suggest literal and metaphorical continuities.
, Vienna, Institute for Contemporary Art
, London. Recent exhibitions include documenta
12, Kassel, Germany, WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
, the 2004 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art
, New York, and the 2008 Biennale of Sydney
, Australia.
The first three parts of her influential work Post-Partum Document (1973 - 7) were shown at the Institute of Contemporary Arts
in 1976. In 2007 she participated in documenta
in Kassel, Germany, exhibiting a mixed media installation entitled "Love Songs". Kelly's works are held in numerous museum collections including the Tate
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
conceptual art
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
ist, feminist, educator, and writer.
Mary Kelly has contributed extensively to the discourse of feminism
Feminist theory
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, or philosophical discourse, it aims to understand the nature of gender inequality...
and postmodernism
Postmodernism
Postmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...
through her large-scale narrative installation
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
s and theoretical writings. Kelly’s work mediates between conceptual art and the more intimate interests of artists of the 1980s. Her work has been exhibited internationally and she is considered among the most influential contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
ists working today. Mary Kelly is Professor of Art at the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
, where she is Head of Interdisciplinary Studio, an area she initiated for artists engaged in site-specific
Site-specific art
Site-specific art is artwork created to exist in a certain place. Typically, the artist takes the location into account while planning and creating the artwork...
, collective, and project based work. Mary Kelly is represented by Postmasters
Postmasters (art gallery)
Postmasters is a contemporary art gallery located on 19th Street in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan owned and directed by Magda Sawon and Tamas Banovich...
in New York and Rosamund Felsen in Los Angeles.
Work
Kelly is known for her project-based work in the form of large-scale narrative installations. Post-Partum Document (1973–79) is a process-based work, which uses objects of both personal and theoretical significance to document the mother-child relationship. Gloria Patri (1992) draws on an archive of found material from the first Gulf War to question how the violence of international events affects or is affected by individual lives. In her monumental work, InterimInterim
Interim is an album by British rock band The Fall, compiled from live and studio material and released in 2004. It features the first officially released versions of "Clasp Hands", "Blindness" and "What About Us?" — all of which were later included on the band's next studio album Fall Heads Roll —...
(1984–89), Kelly deals with collective memories of women. Its object is to specify the discourses that define and regulate feminine identities. In the Ballad of Kastriot Rexhepi (2001), panels of lint, formed in a domestic dryer, are joined together to form undulating waves that tell the story of a child abandoned during the war in Kosovo. As part of this work, Kelly commissioned the composer, Michael Nyman
Michael Nyman
Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...
to create a score for the ballad that was performed by soprano Sarah Leonard and the Nyman Quartet at the opening of the exhibition at the Santa Monica Museum of Art. For Love Songs (2005), Kelly enlisted the help of young women interested in the philosophies and legacies of the women’s movement to restage historical photographs of protests some thirty years after they were taken. Her “remixes” are just approximate enough to allow for real differences between versions, but similar enough to suggest literal and metaphorical continuities.
Selected Exhibitions
She has had major solo exhibitions at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, Generali FoundationGenerali Foundation
The Generali Foundation was established in 1988 by the Generali Group Austria as a private and non-profit-making art association for the promotion of contemporary art...
, Vienna, Institute for Contemporary Art
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
, London. Recent exhibitions include documenta
Documenta
documenta is an exhibition of modern and contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. It was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau which took place in Kassel at that time...
12, Kassel, Germany, WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles is a contemporary art museum with three locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near Walt Disney Concert Hall...
, the 2004 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...
, New York, and the 2008 Biennale of Sydney
Biennale of Sydney
The Biennale of Sydney is an international festival of contemporary art, held every two years in Sydney, Australia. It is the largest and best-attended contemporary visual arts event in the country...
, Australia.
The first three parts of her influential work Post-Partum Document (1973 - 7) were shown at the Institute of Contemporary Arts
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
in 1976. In 2007 she participated in documenta
Documenta
documenta is an exhibition of modern and contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. It was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau which took place in Kassel at that time...
in Kassel, Germany, exhibiting a mixed media installation entitled "Love Songs". Kelly's works are held in numerous museum collections including the Tate
Tate
-Places:*Tate, Georgia, a town in the United States*Tate County, Mississippi, a county in the United States*Táté, the Hungarian name for Totoi village, Sântimbru Commune, Alba County, Romania*Tate, Filipino word for States...
.
By the artist
- Post-Partum Document, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983, reprint, English and German, Generali Foundation , Vienna and University of California Press, Berkeley, 1998
- Imaging Desire, MIT Press, 1996
- Pecunia Olet, Top Stories, New York 1989
On the artist
- Mary Kelly: Words are things, (catalog) and Mary Kelly: On fidelity, (conference papers), Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, 2008
- Mary Kelly, Espacio AV, Region de Murcia, 2008
- Mary Kelly: La balada de Kastriot Rexhepi/ Musica original de Michael Nyman, (catalog), Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, 2004
- Rereading Post-Partum Document, Generali Foundation, Vienna, 1999
- Mary Kelly, Phaidon Press, London, 1997
- Social Process Collaborative Action: Mary Kelly 1970-1975, Charles H. Scott Gallery, Vancouver, 1997
- Mary Kelly: Gloria Patri, (catalog) Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University and Ezra & Cecile Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University
- Mary Kelly: Interim, (catalog), New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, 1990.
- Richmond, Susan. "From Stone to Cloud: Mary Kelly’s Love Songs and Feminist Intergenerationality". Feminist Theory 11.1 (2010): 57-78. Print.
Public collections
Kunsthaus, Zurich, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansa, Santa Monica, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Arts Council of Great Britain, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Australian National Gallery, The Tate Britain, London, The Tate Modern, London, New Hall, Cambridge University, Art Gallery of Ontario, Vancouver Art Gallery, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City, Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Helsinki City Art Museum, Generali Foundation, Vienna, Colorado University Art Museum, Bard College, New York, Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach and Moderna Museet, Stockholm.External links
- http://www.marykellyartist.com, Artist Website
- Christopher Miles, Mary Kelly: Santa Monica Museum of Art - Los Angeles, ArtForum, March 2002.
- Holland Cotter, Art in Review, The New York Times, April 9, 1999.
- John A. Walker, Mary Kelly at Institute of Contemporary Arts (1976) - Can dirty nappies be art?. Excerpt from Art & Outrage, 1999/2010.
- Rosadora Shreibwelt, http://www.rosadora.de/blog/?p=747