Nihilism, that despairing feeling that all is meaningless, fuels much of the work of experimental artist Mike Kelley. For some, seeing his life’s work staged together may be all too much. “Ghost and Spirit” at Tate Modern is the first major British retrospective of Kelley (1954-2012) in more than 30 years—one that offers a very adolescent viewpoint portraying a disturbed and distorted America.

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Sculptures, canvases and photography are some of the mediums the artist explored—or, more accurately, exploited—in his art. It was Kelley’s desire to corrupt the gallery space with undisciplined artworks and warped everyday trappings that can, admittedly, make him a challenge to show. He often perverted found objects—innocuous playthings like stuffed animals and woolen blankets—to stress the suffocation and strangeness that such beloved objects carry beyond childhood.

This exhibition, which runs chronologically from the 1970s to before his death in 2012, goes from sad to sinister to almost intolerable. Defaced presidential portraits make way for miniature cities engorged in green amber before a hit of primal audio sounds assail the ears as if an exorcism is underway. Trauma, memory and disturbance connect these many twisted and uninhibited artworks.

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With both deadpan humor and an anarchist attitude, Kelley always wanted to be confrontational. But Tate Modern’s soundtracking and........

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