Mike Kelley: Educational Complex Onwards 1995-2008 is the accompanying book to The Whitney Museum's 2008 exhibition of the same name. The body of work explores the iconic and prolific artist's "realized 'Educational Complex', a model of the schools he attended and the house where he grew up. The blind spots of the model represent forgotten zones, and are interpreted as symbolic places of "institutional" abuse. For Kelley, this work marks the beginning of a series of projects where autobiography, memory, and the reinterpretation of previous pieces become the privileged instruments in a poetic deconstruction of the structures and systems initiated at the end of the 1970s." (Publisher JP Ringier)
Traditional Mid-century educational textbook styles are reflected in the book's layout and typography, combined with an eerily polite and dry presentation of photography and artworks contrasting the often disturbing and confrontational content of the texts and work. Designed in partnership with Lorraine Wild and Victor Hu at Green Dragon Office.