Kelley’s “The Banana Man” Now Streaming on E-Flux Film

Mike Kelley’s The Banana Man, filmed in collaboration with his students at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, is currently featured on e-Flux Film’s monthly Staff Picks series.

Released in 1983, The Banana Man centered on a minor character in Captain Kangaroo, a children’s television series popular in Kelley’s youth, to explore how identity is constructed and perceived. In Kelley’s video work, he was interested in creating a complex relationship between viewer and artwork as he forced the viewer to piece together their understanding of the character.

Kelley, who passed away in 2012, was an influential American artist interested in themes of desire, dread, and psychology using ordinary objects, kitsch, and pop culture to relay his meaning. The Banana Man was Kelley’s first completed video piece as he moved away from live performance and gallery work.

Kelley wrote, “The Banana Man is an attempt at constructing the psychology of the character—problematized by the fact that the character is already a fictional one, and by the fact that none of my observations were direct ones.”

Learn More

• Staff Picks: Mike Kelley
  (e-flux.com—May 1, 2024)