Mike Kelley

Rosamund Feldman Gallery, Los Angeles
Metro Pictures, New York
Private Collection
Christie's New York, November 19, 1997, Lot 374
Galerie de France, Paris
Acquired by the present owner from the above

Paris, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Lieux communs, Figures singulières, October 1991 - January 1992, p. 28, illustrated
Bordeaux, CAPC Musée d'Art Contemporain, Mike Kelley: Oeuvres de 1971 à 1991, September - November, 1992 (ed. no. 1/2)

Exh. Cat. Pittsburgh, The Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie International, 1991, p. 58, illustrated (ed. no. 1/2)
Exh. Cat., Basel, Kunsthalle Basel (and traveling), Mike Kelley, 1992, pp. 91-95, illustrated (ed. no. 1/2)
Brooks Adams, "Mike Kelley ou l'esthetique de l'echec," Art Press, Paris, June 1992, p. 32 illustrated
John Miller, Mike Kelley, New York, 1992, pp. 52-61, illustrated (ed. no. 1/2)
Elisabeth Sussman, Mike Kelley, Catholic Tastes, New York, 1993, p. 33, illustrated (ed. no. 1/2)
Exh. Cat., Barcelona, Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (and traveling), Mike Kelley 1985 - 1996, 1997, cat. no. 10, pp. 56-65, illustrated (ed. no. 1/2)
Mike Kelley, Thomas Kellein - A Conversation, Stuttgart, 1994, p. 33, illustrated (ed. no. 1/2)
Yves Alain Bois and Rosalind Krauss, L'informe-mode d'emploi, Paris, 1996, p. 240, illustrated, (ed. no. 1/2)
John C. Welchman, Isabelle Graw and Anthony Vidler, Mike Kelley, London, 1999, pp. 28, 30-31, illustrated in color (installation at Carnegie Museum of Art, 1991) and p. 29 (detail, ed. no. 1/2)
Exh. Cat., Brussels, Wiels Contemporary Art Center (and travelling), Mike Kelley: Educational Complex Onwards 1995-2008, 2008, pp. 268-269, illustrated in color (ed. no. 1/2)

This work is in very good condition overall. The photographs all appear in good condition. A few of the frames were opened as a sampling from this 60 part work, and the photographs were mounted at the top corners to a ragboard matte. The matte for one work (third from the left in the third row in the catalogue illustration) has an abraded area with a bluish discoloration along the far right of the bottom edge. A similar bluish stain is visible along the bottom edge of the matte for the photograph 7th from the left in the 4th row. All are framed in black metal strip frames, behind Plexiglas.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

One of Mike Kelley's most important works, Craft Morphology Flow Chart was created in only two variations. The first was conceived within a spectacularly ambitious room installation created for the critically acclaimed 1991 Carnegie International. Within this installation,  the 60 black and white photographs were installed along with 113 stuffed dolls. This installation is presently in the Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. The present work, is the second variation. While unique in that it is deliberately devoid of the dolls, each photograph is the same to its editioned counterpart - with each black and white photograph clinically replicating individual images of the hand-stuffed toys aligned with rulers which bear a deliberate psychological and anthropological suggestion of dead relics.