Mike Kelley
Kandor 20, 2007
Mixed media with video
Recommended dimensions for projection variable 210 × 372 cm
1 Plinth w/bottle: 137.2 × 96.5 × 96.5 cm
1 Plinth w/city: 104.2 × 96.5 × 96.5 cm
Plexi sculpture: 204.5 × 243.8 × 106.7 cm
As the capital of Superman’s home planet – Krypton, Kandor served as inspiration for Mike Kelley for a twelve-year long project and meditation on themes of cultural memory, passing time, and visions of utopia.
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“I like that Kandor has the sci-fi element. It’s a prototypical “city of the future.” When I researched it, I discovered that Kandor had never been drawn the same way twice in the Superman comics. It was such an unimportant part of the Superman mythos that a fixed city plan was never developed. I thought that was an interesting paradox – that all of my different models of this city were supposed to represent the same place”. – Mike Kelley
Exhibitions:
Mike Kelley: Kandors. Venus Over Manhattan, NYC, NY, USA Nov 2016 – Jan 2017
Mutated Reality, Gary Tatintsian Gallery, Moscow, Nov ’15 – Mar ’16
Mike Kelley, Museum Haus Lange und Mueum Haus Esters, Krefeld. 13 Mar-19 Jun 2011
Life on Mars. – 55th Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh. May 3-Nov 1, 2008
Jablonka Galerie, Berlin. Sep 29-Nov 24, 2007
Publications:
Catalogue “Mutated Reality”. Gary Tatintsian Gallery, Moscow, 2016 Cover pages 1-4, pp. 1, 28-37, 62, 64
Mike Kelley. Kandors. Published by Hirmer Verlag, München 2010. pp. 40-41; detail: pp. 42-45
