Mary Kelly (artist)

'''Mary Kelly''' (born 1941, Fort Dodge, Iowa{{cite book |last1=Phaidon Editors |title=Great women artists |date=2019 |publisher=Phaidon Press |isbn=978-0714878775 |page=212}}) is an American [[conceptual art]]ist, [[feminist]], educator, and writer.Walker, John A. [http://www.plutobooks.com/display.asp?K=9780745313542&CID=brussells/ ''Art and Outrage: Provocation, Controversy and the Avant-garde.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306012342/http://www.plutobooks.com/display.asp?K=9780745313542&CID=brussells%2F |date=2012-03-06 }}, London: Pluto, 1999 page 83

'''Mary Kelly''' (born 1941, Fort Dodge, Iowa{{cite book |last1=Phaidon Editors |title=Great women artists |date=2019 |publisher=Phaidon Press |isbn=978-0714878775 |page=212}}) is an American [[conceptual art]]ist, [[feminist]], educator, and writer.Walker, John A. [http://www.plutobooks.com/display.asp?K=9780745313542&CID=brussells/ ''Art and Outrage: Provocation, Controversy and the Avant-garde.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120306012342/http://www.plutobooks.com/display.asp?K=9780745313542&CID=brussells%2F |date=2012-03-06 }}, London: Pluto, 1999 page 83

Kelly has contributed extensively to the [[feminist theory|discourse of feminism]] and [[postmodernism]] through her large-scale narrative [[installation art|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{{cite web|website=Postmasters Gallery NYC |url=http://www.postmastersart.com/ |title=Artists (select from top menu) |accessdate=April 11, 2017 }} and she is considered among the most influential [[contemporary art]]ists working today.{{cite web|url=http://www.modernamuseet.se/en/Stockholm/Exhibitions/2010/Moderna-Museet-Now-Mary-Kelly/ |title=Mary Kelly: Four Works in Dialogue 1973-2010 |publisher=Moderna Museet |accessdate=2014-01-25}}

Kelly has contributed extensively to the [[feminist theory|discourse of feminism]] and [[postmodernism]] through her large-scale narrative [[installation art|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{{cite web|website=Postmasters Gallery NYC |url=http://www.postmastersart.com/ |title=Artists (select from top menu) |accessdate=April 11, 2017 }} and she is considered among the most influential [[contemporary art]]ists working today.{{cite web|url=http://www.modernamuseet.se/en/Stockholm/Exhibitions/2010/Moderna-Museet-Now-Mary-Kelly/ |title=Mary Kelly: Four Works in Dialogue 1973-2010 |publisher=Moderna Museet |accessdate=2014-01-25}}

Kelly is Judge Widney Professor at the USC Roski School of Art and Design of the University of Southern California.{{Cite web | url=https://roski.usc.edu/community/faculty/mary-kelly |title = Mary Kelly | Roski School of Art and Design}} She was previously Professor of Art at the [[University of California, Los Angeles]], where she was Head of Interdisciplinary Studio, an area she initiated for artists engaged in [[site-specific art|site-specific]], collective, and project-based work.{{cite web|url=http://www.art.ucla.edu/faculty/kelly.html/ |title=Mary Kelly - Professor, Interdisciplinary Studio|website=University of California, Art Department|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151226233310/http://www.art.ucla.edu/faculty/kelly.html|archive-date=December 26, 2015}} She was interviewed about her experience teaching at UCLA in [[Sarah Thornton]]'s ''Seven Days in the Art World''.{{Cite book|title=Seven days in the art world|last=L.)|first=Thornton, Sarah (Sarah|isbn=9780393337129|location=New York|oclc=489232834|date = 2009-11-02}}

Kelly is Judge Widney Professor at the USC Roski School of Art and Design of the University of Southern California.{{Cite web | url=https://roski.usc.edu/community/faculty/mary-kelly |title = Mary Kelly | Roski School of Art and Design}} She was previously Professor of Art at the [[University of California, Los Angeles]], where she was Head of Interdisciplinary Studio, an area she initiated for artists engaged in [[site-specific art|site-specific]], collective, and project-based work.{{cite web|url=http://www.art.ucla.edu/faculty/kelly.html/ |title=Mary Kelly - Professor, Interdisciplinary Studio|website=University of California, Art Department|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151226233310/http://www.art.ucla.edu/faculty/kelly.html|archive-date=December 26, 2015}} She was interviewed about her experience teaching at UCLA in [[Sarah Thornton]]'s ''Seven Days in the Art World''.{{Cite book|title=Seven days in the art world|last=L.)|first=Thornton, Sarah (Sarah|isbn=9780393337129|location=New York|oclc=489232834|date = 2009-11-02}}

As a professor, Kelly has mentored artists, writers, and curators including [[Kerry Tribe]],{{Cite web |title=Mary Kelly's Concentric Pedagogy {{!}} Getty |url=https://www.getty.edu/visit/cal/events/ev_4067.html |access-date=2026-03-12 |website=The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles |language=en}} [[Meleko Mokgosi]],{{Cite web |title=Meleko Mokgosi |url=https://vilcek.org/prizes/prize-recipients/meleko-mokgosi/ |access-date=2026-03-12 |website=Vilcek Foundation |language=en-US}} [[Helen Molesworth]], [[Wu Tsang]],{{Cite web |title=Living Between Worlds |url=https://newsroom.ucla.edu/magazine/wu-tsang-artist-macarthur-fellow-film-multimedia |access-date=2026-03-12 |website=UCLA |language=en-us}} [[Amadour]],{{Cite web |last=Fuoco-Karasinski |first=Christina |date=2025-09-11 |title=The Myth of Amadour: Artist effortlessly travels between genres |url=https://www.argonautnews.com/arts_and_events/the-myth-of-amadour-artist-effortlessly-travels-between-genres/article_13be45d3-563f-4daf-a3ec-0d9252758dae.html |access-date=2026-03-12 |website=Argonaut News |language=en}} [[George Baker (art historian)|George Baker]],{{Cite web |title=Mary Kelly Papers (Getty Research Institute) |url=https://www.getty.edu/research/special_collections/notable/kelly.html |access-date=2026-03-12 |website=www.getty.edu}} [[Karl Haendel]],{{Cite web |date=2026-03-12 |title=Drawn to Life: Becoming ‘Less Bad’ with Karl Haendel |url=https://ocula.com/magazine/spotlight/becoming-less-bad-with-karl-haendel/ |access-date=2026-03-12 |website=ocula.com |language=en}} [[Renée Green]], [[Sharon Hayes (artist)|Sharon Hayes]],{{Cite web |title=The Space of an Encounter: An Interview with Sharon Hayes {{!}} JHUP Theatre |url=https://jhuptheatre.org/theatre-journal/online-content/issue/volume-74-issue-3-september-2022/space-encounter-interview |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251213231220/https://jhuptheatre.org/theatre-journal/online-content/issue/volume-74-issue-3-september-2022/space-encounter-interview |archive-date=2025-12-13 |access-date=2026-03-12 |website=jhuptheatre.org |language=en}} [[Emily Jacir]], [[Miwon Kwon]],{{Cite web |last=Singerman |first=Howard |date=2004-02-01 |title=IN THEORY & PRACTICE: A HISTORY OF THE WHITNEY INDEPENDENT STUDY PROGRAM |url=https://www.artforum.com/features/in-theory-practice-a-history-of-the-whitney-independent-study-program-168038/ |access-date=2026-03-12 |website=Artforum |language=en-US}} and [[Mungo Thomson]].

As a professor, Kelly has mentored artists, writers, and curators including [[Kerry Tribe]],{{Cite web |title=Mary Kelly's Concentric Pedagogy {{!}} Getty |url=https://www.getty.edu/visit/cal/events/ev_4067.html |access-date=2026-03-12 |website=The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles |language=en}} [[Meleko Mokgosi]],{{Cite web |title=Meleko Mokgosi |url=https://vilcek.org/prizes/prize-recipients/meleko-mokgosi/ |access-date=2026-03-12 |website=Vilcek Foundation |language=en-US}} [[Helen Molesworth]], [[Wu Tsang]],{{Cite web |title=Living Between Worlds |url=https://newsroom.ucla.edu/magazine/wu-tsang-artist-macarthur-fellow-film-multimedia |access-date=2026-03-12 |website=UCLA |language=en-us}} [[Amadour]],{{Cite web |last=Fuoco-Karasinski |first=Christina |date=2025-09-11 |title=The Myth of Amadour: Artist effortlessly travels between genres |url=https://www.argonautnews.com/arts_and_events/the-myth-of-amadour-artist-effortlessly-travels-between-genres/article_13be45d3-563f-4daf-a3ec-0d9252758dae.html |access-date=2026-03-12 |website=Argonaut News |language=en}} [[George Baker (art historian)|George Baker]],{{Cite web |title=Mary Kelly Papers (Getty Research Institute) |url=https://www.getty.edu/research/special_collections/notable/kelly.html |access-date=2026-03-12 |website=www.getty.edu}} [[Karl Haendel]],{{Cite web |date=2026-03-12 |title=Drawn to Life: Becoming 'Less Bad' with Karl Haendel |url=https://ocula.com/magazine/spotlight/becoming-less-bad-with-karl-haendel/ |access-date=2026-03-12 |website=ocula.com |language=en}} [[Renée Green]], [[Sharon Hayes (artist)|Sharon Hayes]],{{Cite web |title=The Space of an Encounter: An Interview with Sharon Hayes {{!}} JHUP Theatre |url=https://jhuptheatre.org/theatre-journal/online-content/issue/volume-74-issue-3-september-2022/space-encounter-interview |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251213231220/https://jhuptheatre.org/theatre-journal/online-content/issue/volume-74-issue-3-september-2022/space-encounter-interview |archive-date=2025-12-13 |access-date=2026-03-12 |website=jhuptheatre.org |language=en}} [[Emily Jacir]], [[Miwon Kwon]],{{Cite web |last=Singerman |first=Howard |date=2004-02-01 |title=IN THEORY & PRACTICE: A HISTORY OF THE WHITNEY INDEPENDENT STUDY PROGRAM |url=https://www.artforum.com/features/in-theory-practice-a-history-of-the-whitney-independent-study-program-168038/ |access-date=2026-03-12 |website=Artforum |language=en-US}} and [[Mungo Thomson]].

==Work==

==Work==

For Lippard, and other art historians, this project must be considered within a feminist discourse of consciousness-raising, collaborative work, and discussions about sexual division of labor. Kelly created this work during the second-wave of feminism that focused on ways women worked in the home. ''Post-Partum Document'' is a notable work of feminist art because it is a relevant depiction of the meaning of motherhood for contemporary women. Additionally, ''Post-Partum Document'' deploys a distanced and seemingly objective look at being a mother and discusses the creation of subjectivity, something many of the male artists during Kelly's time avoided.

For Lippard, and other art historians, this project must be considered within a feminist discourse of consciousness-raising, collaborative work, and discussions about sexual division of labor. Kelly created this work during the second-wave of feminism that focused on ways women worked in the home. ''Post-Partum Document'' is a notable work of feminist art because it is a relevant depiction of the meaning of motherhood for contemporary women. Additionally, ''Post-Partum Document'' deploys a distanced and seemingly objective look at being a mother and discusses the creation of subjectivity, something many of the male artists during Kelly's time avoided.

Throughout the 1980s and into the present day, Kelly's projects continue to engage with questions posed by theoretical practice and subjectivity.{{Cite web|url=http://www.marykellyartist.com/interim.html|title=Interim|website=www.marykellyartist.com|access-date=2018-04-21|archive-date=2019-11-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191118223921/http://www.marykellyartist.com/interim.html|url-status=dead}} In her monumental work, Interim{{cite web|url=http://www.postmastersart.com/archive/MK/MK_Interim_window.html |accessdate=August 31, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110529102012/http://www.postmastersart.com/archive/MK/MK_Interim_window.html |title=Mary Kelly, Interim|archive-date=May 29, 2011 }} (1984–89), Kelly deals with collective memories of women. Its object is to specify the discourses that define and regulate feminine identities.Sandler, Irving. [https://www.amazon.com/Art-Postmodern-Era-1960s-Early/dp/0064385094/ ''Art of the Post Modern Era''], New York: [[HarperCollins]], 1996, p 400. Despite the absence of female bodies in this project, [https://as.nyu.edu/content/nyu-as/as/faculty/emily-s-apter.html Emily Apter] writes that clothing in ''Interim,'' as well as Kelly's other projects, ''shows that'' "representation and exemplarity are guaranteed by the jackets in bondage."{{Cite journal|last=Apter|first=Emily|date=1995|title=Out of the Closet, Mary Kelly's Corpus (1984-85)|journal=Art Journal|volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=66–70|doi=10.1080/00043249.1995.10791680 }} Another project [[Gloria Patri]]{{cite web|url=http://www.postmastersart.com/archive/MK/MK_GP_window.html |title=Mary Kelly GP Window |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715111142/http://www.postmastersart.com/archive/MK/MK_GP_window.html |archive-date=July 15, 2011 }} (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.Bonham, Charlotte, and David Hodge.[http://www.goodmanbooks.com/ ''The Contemporary Art Book''], London: Goodman, an imprint of Carlton Publishing Group, 2009. Page 129 In the ''Ballad of Kastriot Rexhepi''{{Cite web | url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_7_40/ai_84182789 |title = ArtForum: Mary Kelly: Santa Monica Museum of Art - Los Angeles - Brief Article|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060328150533/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_7_40/ai_84182789|archive-date = 2006-03-28}} (2001), panels of lint, formed in a domestic dryer, are joined to form undulating waves that tell the story of a child abandoned during the war in Kosovo. Art historian [[Griselda Pollock]] wrote that this "pattern of repeat and inversion evokes both a visual register of sound waves and images of pulse and flow as well as recalling the structure of biological life, the helix."{{Cite journal|last=Pollock|first=Griselda|date=2004|title=Mary Kelly's Ballad of Kastriot Rexhepi: Virtual Trauma and Indexical Witness in the Age of Mediatic Spectacle|journal=Parallax|volume=10|issue=1 |pages=100–112|via=Taylor & Francis Online|doi=10.1080/1353464032000171136|s2cid=170738619}} Ultimately, Pollock situates this project as an intersection between the material as both virtual and indexical. ''The Ballad of Kastriot Rechepi'' then "evokes the photographic visual effect while yet bearing no image, and staging no sight again performs a constant Kelly move: to stage in a created art work a commentary on the modes of seeing and knowledge typical of our cultures and media, one face of our creation through the interface with these signifying systems as social subjects." 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]].Kraus, Chris, Jan Tumlir, and Jans McFadden. [https://www.amazon.com/Artland-Contemporary-Art-Los-Angeles/dp/1904772307/ ''LA Artland''], London: [[Black Dog Publishing]], 2005, p 103.

Throughout the 1980s and into the present day, Kelly's projects continue to engage with questions posed by theoretical practice and subjectivity.{{Cite web|url=http://www.marykellyartist.com/interim.html|title=Interim|website=www.marykellyartist.com|access-date=2018-04-21|archive-date=2019-11-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191118223921/http://www.marykellyartist.com/interim.html|url-status=dead}} In her monumental work, Interim{{cite web|url=http://www.postmastersart.com/archive/MK/MK_Interim_window.html |accessdate=August 31, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110529102012/http://www.postmastersart.com/archive/MK/MK_Interim_window.html |title=Mary Kelly, Interim|archive-date=May 29, 2011 }} (1984–89), Kelly deals with collective memories of women. Its object is to specify the discourses that define and regulate feminine identities.Sandler, Irving. [https://www.amazon.com/Art-Postmodern-Era-1960s-Early/dp/0064385094/ ''Art of the Post Modern Era''], New York: [[HarperCollins]], 1996, p 400. Despite the absence of female bodies in this project, [https://as.nyu.edu/content/nyu-as/as/faculty/emily-s-apter.html Emily Apter] writes that clothing in ''Interim,'' as well as Kelly's other projects, ''shows that'' "representation and exemplarity are guaranteed by the jackets in bondage."{{Cite journal|last=Apter|first=Emily|date=1995|title=Out of the Closet, Mary Kelly's Corpus (1984-85)|journal=Art Journal|volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=66–70|doi=10.1080/00043249.1995.10791680 }} Another project [[Gloria Patri]]{{cite web|url=http://www.postmastersart.com/archive/MK/MK_GP_window.html |title=Mary Kelly GP Window |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715111142/http://www.postmastersart.com/archive/MK/MK_GP_window.html |archive-date=July 15, 2011 }} (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.Bonham, Charlotte, and David Hodge.[http://www.goodmanbooks.com/ ''The Contemporary Art Book''], London: Goodman, an imprint of Carlton Publishing Group, 2009. Page 129 In the ''Ballad of Kastriot Rexhepi''{{Cite web | url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_7_40/ai_84182789 |title = ArtForum: Mary Kelly: Santa Monica Museum of Art - Los Angeles - Brief Article|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060328150533/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_7_40/ai_84182789|archive-date = 2006-03-28}} (2001), panels of lint, formed in a domestic dryer, are joined to form undulating waves that tell the story of a child abandoned during the war in Kosovo. Art historian [[Griselda Pollock]] wrote that this "pattern of repeat and inversion evokes both a visual register of sound waves and images of pulse and flow as well as recalling the structure of biological life, the helix."{{Cite journal|last=Pollock|first=Griselda|date=2004|title=Mary Kelly's Ballad of Kastriot Rexhepi: Virtual Trauma and Indexical Witness in the Age of Mediatic Spectacle|journal=Parallax|volume=10|issue=1 |pages=100–112|via=Taylor & Francis Online|doi=10.1080/1353464032000171136|s2cid=170738619}} Ultimately, Pollock situates this project as an intersection between the material as both virtual and indexical. ''The Ballad of Kastriot Rechepi'' then "evokes the photographic visual effect while yet bearing no image, and staging no sight again performs a constant Kelly move: to stage in a created art work a commentary on the modes of seeing and knowledge typical of our cultures and media, one face of our creation through the interface with these signifying systems as social subjects." 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]].Kraus, Chris, Jan Tumlir, and Jans McFadden. [https://www.amazon.com/Artland-Contemporary-Art-Los-Angeles/dp/1904772307/ ''LA Artland''], London: [[Black Dog Publishing]], 2005, p 103.

In 2004, Kelly created a piece called ''Circa 1968''. This set of works brings back the movement of the 1968 demonstration by university students in Paris. Similar to the ''Ballad of Kastriot Rexhepi,'' the piece is composed of dryer lint and required over 10,000 loads of laundry to acquire enough lint to produce. The installation is projected onto the wall to bring about questions of the reoccurring past, the future and the legacy that these events will hold.{{Cite web|url=http://www.marykellyartist.com/circa.html|title=Circa 1968|website=www.marykellyartist.com|access-date=2017-04-11|archive-date=2019-11-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191121101012/http://www.marykellyartist.com/circa.html|url-status=dead}} For Love Songs{{Cite web|title=Mary Kelly|url=http://www.postmastersart.com/archive/MK05/MK05.html/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141101173936/http://www.postmastersart.com/archive/MK05/MK05.html/|archive-date=2014-11-01}} (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.Burton,Johanna. [http://artforum.com/ ''Mary Kelly Postmasters''], New York: [[Art Forum]], January, 2005.

In 2004, Kelly created a piece called ''Circa 1968''. This set of works brings back the movement of the 1968 demonstration by university students in Paris. Similar to the ''Ballad of Kastriot Rexhepi,'' the piece is composed of dryer lint and required over 10,000 loads of laundry to acquire enough lint to produce. The installation is projected onto the wall to bring about questions of the reoccurring past, the future and the legacy that these events will hold.{{Cite web|url=http://www.marykellyartist.com/circa.html|title=Circa 1968|website=www.marykellyartist.com|access-date=2017-04-11|archive-date=2019-11-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191121101012/http://www.marykellyartist.com/circa.html|url-status=dead}} For Love Songs{{Cite web|title=Mary Kelly|url=http://www.postmastersart.com/archive/MK05/MK05.html/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141101173936/http://www.postmastersart.com/archive/MK05/MK05.html/|archive-date=2014-11-01}} (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.Burton, Johanna. [http://artforum.com/ ''Mary Kelly Postmasters''], New York: [[Art Forum]], January, 2005.

==Selected exhibitions==

==Selected exhibitions==

===On the artist===

===On the artist===

* ''Rance, Victoria'' [http://www.ktpress.co.uk/nparadoxa-volume-details.asp?volumeid=28 'Mary Kelly: Projects, 1973-2010'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160227112343/http://www.ktpress.co.uk/nparadoxa-volume-details.asp?volumeid=28 |date=2016-02-27 }} n.paradoxa Volume 28 July 2011 pp. 80-87.

* ''Rance, Victoria'' [http://www.ktpress.co.uk/nparadoxa-volume-details.asp?volumeid=28 'Mary Kelly: Projects, 1973-2010'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160227112343/http://www.ktpress.co.uk/nparadoxa-volume-details.asp?volumeid=28 |date=2016-02-27 }} n.paradoxa Volume 28 July 2011 pp. 80–87.

* ''Mary Kelly: Words are things'', (catalog) and ''Mary Kelly: On fidelity'', (conference papers), Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, 2008

* ''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'', Espacio AV, Region de Murcia, 2008