(Reuters) - Influential contemporary artist Mike Kelley has been found dead at his home in a Los Angeles suburb and authorities said on Wednesday they were investigating his death as a possible suicide.

Kelley, 57, was found dead in the bathtub of his home in South Pasadena by a friend on Tuesday night, Los Angeles County Coroner's spokesman Ed Winter said.

Winter said the artist had last been seen alive on Sunday. No suicide note was found in the home and there were no signs of trauma or foul play, he said. An autopsy was scheduled for Thursday.

(Reuters) - Christie's shrugged off the euro zone crisis and slowing economic growth in 2011 to post record revenues, selling art worth 3.6 billion pounds, or nine percent more than in 2010.

In dollar terms the total of $5.7 billion was not a record but was 14 percent higher than 2010, as wealthy and super-wealthy collectors snapped up rare works as status symbols, objects of desire and alternative investments.

The results were published on Tuesday, a week ahead of a key set of sales in London that will again test the appetite of an increasingly international clientele during tough economic times.