Carnival Time

Much like his afflicted hometown of Detroit, Mike Kelley was well acquainted with the pageantry of politics and premature demise. His work oftentimes alluded to the bureaucratic tomfoolery running rampant under the American big top. Today, his Carnival Time (1990) feels eerily apropos in the DIA's collection as the skewered heads of crooked politicians are coupled with the mercenary icons of big business, a voracious sow, and composite figures of the dissenting Motor City punk scene.

Mike Kelley. Carnival Time, 1990; acrylic on masonite; 84 x 208 x 2.38 in. Courtesy of the Detroit Institute of Arts.