Artist and art world commentator Hilde Lynn Helphenstein was found dead on Sunday in São Paulo’s Rosewood Hotel, according to a report by Brazilian television network Globo. She was 40 years old.
Helphenstein is better known as the pseudonym Jerry Gogosian (a combination of the name of art critic Jerry Saltz and the famed gallery Gogosian) who ran an extremely popular Instagram account known for having delightfully shady commentary on the art world. Though many of the account’s posts were crass memes of blue-chip marketeers and collectors, some had consequences on the art world more broadly; for example, in 2020, the Gagosian gallery dropped director Sam Orlofsky after Helphenstein urged people to come forward with sexual harassment allegations against him.
She was found in her hotel room beside an empty vodka bottle, a broken glass, and unidentified pills. Apparently, she had undergone some sort of plastic surgery procedure in the 3 weeks she was in São Paulo, and a man who identified himself as her plastic surgeon said he went to her room after she stopped answering her phone. Considering the reports of crazy behavior coming from Helphenstein and her friends at the hotel for drunken behavior (including exposing themselves) the police are treating this as a highly suspicious, and more tests are being conducted.
I realize this is super niche, ONTD, but her Instagram was pretty popular in the art world and this is shocking.
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