DESTROY ALL MONSTERS / Killing Me Softly

Destroy All Monsters
Killing Me Softly, 1995-96
Box containing bound printed matter and mixed-media elements
Number 218 from the edition of 250
Signed by Mike Kelley, Jim Shaw, Cary Loren and Niagara
18.5 x 18.5cm
Self published

Condition: Near Fine. Complete with the original box and mixed-media elements. Light shelf wear and minor handling to the box, including gentle toning and trivial rubbing consistent with age. The original Tuxedo Jam "Spiffy is Cool!" packet remains unopened, preserving its contents intact. Signed by Mike Kelley, Jim Shaw, Cary Loren and Niagara, and numbered 218 from the edition of 250. An exceptionally well-preserved example of this scarce boxed multiple.

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Produced between 1995 and 1996, Killing Me Softly is one of Destroy All Monsters' most ambitious artist publications, bringing together printed matter, found materials and multiple components within a hand-assembled boxed edition. Conceived by the legendary Detroit collective—Mike Kelley, Jim Shaw, Cary Loren and Niagara—the work reflects the group's enduring commitment to collapsing the boundaries between visual art, underground music, performance and independent publishing.

Part artist's book, part archival object and part conceptual multiple, Killing Me Softly draws on the group's distinctive visual language of pulp imagery, collage, counterculture and DIY aesthetics. Echoing the experimental spirit that defined Destroy All Monsters from the early 1970s onwards, the publication resists conventional categorisation, functioning simultaneously as artwork, document and editioned object.

This example is signed by all four principal members of Destroy All Monsters—Mike Kelley, Jim Shaw, Cary Loren and Niagara—and numbered 218 from the edition of 250, making it an exceptional example of one of the collective's rarest and most sought-after publications.