Artist Mike Kelley Found Dead Inside his Home
Contemporary artist Mike Kelley was found dead inside his Los Angeles home this week and authorities are saying that the cause of death could be suicide.
Kelley, 57, was discovered by a friend lying dead in the bathtub of his house that is located in South Pasadena, Calif., according to Los Angeles County Coroner's spokesman Ed Winter.
Winter also stated that the artist had been seen alive and well on Sunday. Authorities did not find a suicide note in his home and there were no signs of trauma or foul play. His autopsy will be performed on Thursday, according to Winter.
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"It's a terrible loss for his family and friends and for the artists of this community, which he's done so much to change and enrich," said Paul Schimmel, chief curator for the Los Angeles County Museum of Contemporary Art to Reuters.
"More than any other artist of his generation, he changed the perception of this city and helped make it the great international art city it is today," he added.
Kelley's used unconventional themes in his art and became an artist for unconventional reasons. His work had a disturbing effect on his audience.
"I chose to become an artist because I wanted to be a failure," said Kelley in 2009 to Interview magazine. "When I was young, if you wanted to really ostracize yourself from society, you became an artist." He also described himself as a "blue collar anarchist."
Kelley was born in Detroit in 1954. He started a proto-punk band in the 1970s called Destroy All Monsters. The band's gigs were so over-the-top that they were considered performance art. Kelley left the band in 1976 and began studying at the California Institute of the Arts alongside teachers such as John Baldessari and Laurie Anderson.
Kelley began working on various projects that incorporated a variety of separate media including drawing, painting, sculpture, performance and writing. He began to gain recognition for his work in the 1980s for some of his projects.
In 2005 Kelley created Day is Done which filled the Gagosian Gallery that included funhouse-like multimedia installations such as automated furniture as well as films of dream like ceremonies.
