Artist Mike Kelley Dead at 57

Artist Mike Kelley is dead, and I never got a chance to see his work in person or write about it on this blog. The closest I came was owning the Sonic Youth album Dirty (above), for which he did the artwork. Kelley was 57, and according to Metro Pictures‘ Helene Winer, depressed. His death this week is being called a suicide.

Kelley was a respected and influential contemporary artist whose work involved found objects, textiles, collage, sculpture, installations, performance and video. I can think of several artists who grace these virtual pages who would undoubtedly cite Kelley as an inspiration.

Sad news. Arrested Motion has more here.