Against the backdrop of 1960s counterculture, Kelley and Shaw shared a lifelong friendship and common background: an upbringing and education in the state of Michigan. After growing up in the Detroit area and Midland, respectively, Kelley and Shaw met in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan, then moved to Los Angeles in 1976 to pursue graduate school at the California Institute of the Arts. Michigan Stories is the first exhibition to place these artists’ practices alongside each other in historical context, approaching their work as parallel visual meditations on midwestern culture in particular, and on American culture more broadly. Michigan Stories: Mike Kelley and Jim Shaw is organized by the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University and co-curated by Marc-Olivier Wahler, Director, and Carla Acevedo-Yates and Steven L. Bridges, Assistant Curators. Support for this exhibition is provided by the Ringier Collection, Switzerland, and the Eli and Edythe Broad endowed exhibitions fund.