What is this tentacled face emerging from the darkness, photographed by Mike Kelley in a series of 15 chromogenic prints entitled Ectoplasm Photographs?
A face in a trance, exuding a cottony – ectoplasmic – substance from its orifices; that of the artist himself, transformed into a spiritual medium. Inspired by spirit photography of the late 19th century, this image of the formless testifies to a supernatural conception of the artist as a seer capable of communicating with the afterlife.
« Occult rituals interest me because they are similar to artistic creation. " said the American artist who passed away in 2012, to whom the Bourse de Commerce, in association with the Tate Modern in London, the Kunstsammlung in Düsseldorf and the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, is dedicating its new season American Mythologies a retrospective entitled “Ghost and Spirit”.
“MIKE KELLEY, GHOST AND SPIRIT”
EXCHANGE – PINAULT COLLECTION
2, RUE DE VIARMES, PARIS 1ER
FROM OCTOBER 13, 2023 TO FEBRUARY 19, 2024
PINAULTCOLLECTION.COM
