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.
Helphenstein, better known by her pseudonym Jerry Gogosian, was found in her hotel room beside an empty vodka bottle, a broken glass, and unidentified pills. A man who identified himself as her plastic surgeon said he went to her room after she stopped answering her phone, according to Globo. He said further that she had been in Brazil for three weeks while she had a surgical procedure. The death was registered as suspicious by the police, and tests have been requested, says the paper.
“Rosewood São Paulo confirms that the guest Hilde Ann Lynn was found dead on the afternoon of Sunday, May 31,” the hotel said in a statement quoted in Globo. “Since the observation of what happened, the hotel has provided full collaboration with the competent authorities, promptly providing all the information requested to assist in the investigation of the facts. In respect of the privacy of the guest, their family members and the work of the responsible authorities, the hotel will not comment on additional details at this time.”
On Saturday, a complaint had been lodged with the hotel against Hilphenstein and friends for drunken behavior, including exposing themselves, reports Globo.
For years, Helphenstein maintained a popular Instagram account satirizing the art world, which combined the names of art critic Jerry Saltz and megadealer Larry Gagosian and currently has some 145,000 followers. She began to pivot away from that persona in recent years, signing with United Talent Agency‘s Fine Arts division in February 2024. However, by September, UTA announced that it was closing the division, and it is not clear if the agency kept Helphenstein as a client. (UTA did not respond to a request for comment at press time.)
Last June, she announced on Instagram that she planned to wind down the account, saying she had “grown out” of the project.
“We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Hilde Lynn Helphenstein to the UTA Fine Arts family,” UTA Fine Arts’ senior director Harrison Tenzer said in a statement in 2024. “She is a luminary in the art world, known for fostering a vibrant community through her engaging social channels. Her commitment to supporting fellow artists is evident throughout her work as is her dedication to making the notoriously opaque art world feel welcoming to more people.”
Helphenstein previously ran a Los Angeles art gallery, which she inaugurated in 2016, but then launched the Instagram account in 2018 after being bedridden with health problems for a year. She initially ran the account anonymously but revealed her identity in 2020. She went on to host a podcast, Art Smack, and publish the newsletter the Jerry Report. She collaborated with brands including Sotheby’s, Ruinart, Edition Hotel and the Standard Hotel.
“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,” wrote Alex Greenberger for ARTnews last year. “In 2020, for example, Gagosian gallery dropped director Sam Orlofsky after Helphenstein urged people to come forward with sexual harassment allegations against him.
“Helphenstein became famous through the account and went on to curate a Sotheby’s sale in 2022,” Greenberger wrote. “But occasionally, its posts also landed her in hot water. Last year, Helphenstein mocked the name of a Sotheby’s auctioneer, leading him to accuse her of xenophobia. She later apologized, admitting the joke was made ‘in poor taste.’”
