Courtesy Mor Lovehours

Mike Kelley memorial on Tipton Way, photographed Wednesday afternoon

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Mike Kelley was "arguably" the most important L.A. artist of his generation, "arguably" the one who changed the world's perception of Los Angeles, even "arguably" the most important contemporary artist according to obituaries and remembrances published yesterday, after news of the 57-year-old artist's death, reportedly by suicide.

A subdued version of that argument -- over how much exactly Kelley mattered and why -- was playing out last night near 11 p.m. at the top of Tipton Way. There, in an abandoned driveway blocks from Kelley's home in Highland Park, artists had begun to construct an unofficial, makeshift memorial.

"He was one of the main reasons I moved to L.A.," said painter Greta Svalberg. "He was a rebel, and he was famous."

"For me too," said artist Dani Tull, who lives nearby and knew Kelley well. "After graduate school, it was either New York or L.A." Tull, who finished school in the early 1990s, had written down names of all the artists working here that interested him: Mike Kelley, Jim Shaw, Raymond Pettibon, Paul McCarthy. "This list of mavericks and freaks had an allure that seemed exotic," compared to New York.

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Carol Cheh

Early works by Kelley at MOCA's "Under the Big Black Sun" exhibit

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Los Angeles is now one brilliant mind short, as legendary artist Mike Kelley has been found dead, his gallery confirmed.

Born in 1954 in a suburb of Detroit, Kelley received his MFA from CalArts in 1978, made his work and home primarily in L.A. and grew to become an internationally renowned artist.

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Gil Ortiz

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Gilbert "Magú" Luján used to laugh when described as a Chicano art icon, but he is more than deserving of the title. His irreverent, playful work across a broad spectrum of media that included cardboard, metal, ceramic tile and organic material, among others, fused a distinct visual vocabulary with his perennial curiosity and a soft-spoken, often sweetly paternal bearing.

A founding member of "Los Four," an early Chicano art collective that brought LA Chicano art to a wider audience with an exhibit at LACMA in 1974, he died of complications from prostate cancer on Sunday.

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