L.A. Artist Mike Kelley Dies

Los Angeles–based artist Mike Kelley, a punk-rock pioneer and lauded contemporary artist, was found dead in his home Tuesday. The cause of his death is under investigation, but a South Pasadena police sergeant said it appeared he had committed suicide. The 57-year-old Kelley, a California Institute of the Arts graduate and recipient of awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and other prizes, made waves with shows in Los Angeles and New York in the early 1990s. His work, which included large-scale mixed-media works and other genre-bending pieces, was the subject of a 1993 retrospective at the Whitney Museum in New York City. Kelley will also be featured in this year’s Whitney Biennial.