Friends have spoken of their "devastation" after the death of David Hockney's assistant Dominic Elliott.
Mr Elliott, 23, was taken to hospital from the artist's home in Bridlington on Sunday morning.
The cause of death has not yet been established.
Mr Elliott played for Driffield Hockey Club and Bridlington Rugby Club.
Gordon Morrice, chairman of the rugby club, said: "We are all devastated.
"He was a very popular lad in the club and will be very much missed."
Adam Saltonstall, captain of the hockey club, played with Mr Elliott for seven years.
"This horrific news has thoroughly rocked the club and left a huge hole in everyone's lives," he said.
"We have cancelled training this week as a mark of respect."
A Humberside Police spokeswoman said: "The circumstances of the man's death are not clear and officers are currently undertaking enquiries to establish events leading to his death.
"There were no signs of violence and a post mortem examination is due to take place tomorrow."
Mr Hockney is one of the world's most famous living artists.
Born in Bradford in 1937, he attended Bradford Grammar School but spent his summer holidays working on a friend's farm in the East Yorkshire Wolds.
In the 1960s, he became synonymous with the Pop Art movement.
Despite moving to Los Angeles in 1978, he returned often to East Yorkshire, where his mother Laura lived during the 1990s.
He finally left California and moved into her seafront Bridlington house in 2005.
His Wolds-inspired A Bigger Picture show attracted more than a million people to the Royal Academy of Arts.
An exhibition of his painting Bigger Trees Near Warter was one of the most popular in the history of Hull's Ferens Art Gallery.
