A Bird Always Builds a Nest in His House

Mike Kelley

1978

A felt‑tip pen on lined paper where Mike Kelley transforms a private notebook note into a deadpan, instructional sketch—handwritten aphorism and a simple drawing of a house, a nest, and a falling egg that mix folk wisdom with dark humor.

The page hits you with bold, blocky handwriting and a childlike sketch: a funnel‑shaped house with a roughly drawn nest labeled “THE NEST,” an arrow and the blunt caption “AN EGG COULD FALL,” all on a torn spiral‑edge sheet that feels improvised and intimate.

The work shows Kelley mining everyday writing and schoolroom aesthetics to collapse private notes, vernacular diagrams, and conceptual irony into art, helping legitimize personal ephemera and instructional language as material for contemporary practice.

Palette

Art Terms

Conceptual art Drawing Ink Sketch Ephemera Contemporary art

Exhibitions

Frank O'Hara/In Memory of My Feelings

1967

Handmade Paper Prints and Unique Works

1976

American Drawings and Watercolors: A Selection from the Collection

1969

Built in USA: Post-War Architecture

1953