Well-known, respected artist Mike Kelley found dead of apparent suicide at his home in L.A.
Artist Mike Kelley was found dead in his home in Los Angeles on Wednesday. He is reported to have committed suicide.
The 57-year-old performance artist was born in 1954 in a Detroit suburb. As a teen, he became involved with the Detroit music scene, and formed a proto-punk band, Destroy All Monsters, while a student at the University of Michigan, along with fellow artists Jim Shaw, Niagara and Cary Loren. After graduating in 1976, he moved to L.A. to attend the California Institute of the Arts, where he formed a second band, Poetics.
Kelley’s work found prominence on the L.A. art scene and beyond. Kelley’s career included solo shows at the Whitney Museum, LACMA, the Louvre, Hirshhorn and the Gagosian Gallery. Kelley’s art, known for found-object creations and the musical performance art that had continued to be a passion throughout his career, has been included in the permanent collections of prominent contemporary art museums in the US, and had recently been chosen for the 2012 Whitney Biennial.
“I am so devastated. Mike is our great Los Angeles artist. He’s the one that changed the game for a whole generation,” Paul Schimmel, chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art, said to the L.A. Times. “If one could point the finger singularly, he’s it. As an artist, a curator, as a kind of passionate advocate for this community and his generation, he’s a real giant.”
Kelley was highly rewarded as an artist, winning multiple major awards, including:
- Wolfgang Hahn Prize, 2006
- John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, 2003
- The California Institute of the Arts Distinguished Alumnus Award, 2000
- The University of Michigan School of Art and Design Distinguished Alumnus Award, 1998
- Skowhegan Medal in Mixed Media, 1997
- National Endowment for the Arts Museum Program Exhibition Grant, Awards in the Visual Arts Grant, 1987
- Artists Space Interarts Grant, 1986
- National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artists Fellowship Grant, 1985
- Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant, 1985
Kelley's studio released a statement to the L.A. Times: "Mike was an irresistible force in contemporary art.... We cannot believe he is gone. But we know his legacy will continue to touch and challenge anyone who crosses its path. We will miss him. We will keep him with us."
Image: Wikimedia Commons, photo by Cameron Wittig, Courtesy Walker Art Center.
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