Mike Kelley - Contemporary Art Part I New York Thursday, November 15, 2007 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles

  • Catalogue Essay

    Mike Kelley’s Feudal War from 1987 portrays the Japanese folkloric Kappa (river-child), a mischievous water deity traditionally depicted as a child-sized humanoid in legends.The Kappa character lies between the ‘crossfire’of intensely profane slangs between Toyama and Tokyo, two feuding Japanese cities. Kelley, at the time the present lot was created, had undergone a series which dealt with themes from Japanese culture and history, including the 1986 film Kappa which he collaborated with Bruce Nauman and Norman Yonemoto.  Feudal War’s imagery derives from legendary Kappa portrayals seenthroughout Japan. As troublemakers, their pranks range from the relatively innocent to the more menacing kidnapping of children, feeding on the blood of their victims. Even today, signs warning children against the presence of Kappa are seen in some Japanese towns and villages.

64

Feudal War

1987
Acrylic on canvas laid down on panel.
48 1/8 x 60 in. (122.2 x 152.4 cm).
Signed, titled and dated “Mike Kelley 1987 ‘Feudal War’” on the reverse.

Estimate
$200,000 - 300,000 

Contemporary Art Part I

15 Nov 2007, 7pm
New York