Ahh ... Youth

American artist Mike Kelley rose to superstar status in the art world with a series of installations for floor or wall made using stuffed animals he collected from secondhand stores: soiled and ratty objects that function as totems from the lost continent of childhood. The multipart photographic sequence Ahh . . . Youth! features seven individual close-ups of doll faces--described by Kelley as "mug shots"--interrupted by a snapshot of the artist as a young man, his face covered in pimples, a human analogue to the damaged, pathos-laden visages of the toys. A masterpiece of 1990s art in any medium, this work is a cornerstone of the Museum's collection of contemporary art.