Hilde Lynn Helphenstein cause of death update: Who is Jerry Gogosian creator found dead at Sao Paulo hotel?
Hilde Lynn Helphenstein, the curator and art world satirist who built a massive following online under the name Jerry Gogosian, has died at the age of 40. Brazilian police have opened a suspicious death investigation.
How she was found and her cause of death
Helphenstein was found dead in her room at the Rosewood Sao Paulo, a luxury five-star hotel in the city’s Bela Vista district, on Sunday, May 31, according to Globo, which first reported the news.
According to a police report viewed by Veja Sao Paulo, a plastic surgeon had arrived at the hotel looking for Helphenstein, who had been in Sao Paulo for three weeks for a cosmetic procedure. The surgeon had been struggling to reach her. Hotel staff called her room and got no response. When they entered, they found her unconscious in bed, as per reports.
In a statement to Hyperallergic, a spokesperson for the Rosewood Sao Paulo confirmed that Helphenstein was found deceased on Sunday afternoon. “Since the incident, the hotel has provided full collaboration with the competent authorities, promptly providing all the information requested to assist in the investigation,” the spokesperson said, adding that the hotel would not comment further out of “respect for the privacy of the guest, their family members, and the work of the responsible authorities.”
A spokesperson for the city of Sao Paulo told Hyperallergic that police were investigating the death of a 40-year-old woman but did not name Helphenstein or provide a cause of death yet.
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Who was Jerry Gogosian?
Helphenstein launched her anonymous Instagram account Jerry Gogosian in 2018 while recovering from an illness, according to Artnet News. The account quickly became a phenomenon in art world circles, with sharp memes and insider gossip that cut through the blue-chip market’s self-seriousness. She built a following of nearly 150,000 people across her platforms.
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Her identity remained a secret for two years before Artnet News columnist Kenny Schachter revealed who she was in 2020. In an interview with W magazine, Helphenstein described her ambition and said she wanted to be “the female Anthony Bourdain of the art world.”
From there, her career expanded well beyond memes. In 2022, she curated an online exhibition of works by emerging artists at Sotheby’s titled Suggested Followers: How the Algorithm is Always Right.
She also hosted a contemporary art podcast called Art Smack on Spotify before moving it to Patreon and maintained a Substack where she publicly wrote about art industry politics, personal friendships and her own struggles with depression. She was also pursuing an MBA at New York University, according to her website.
The investigation into her death remains ongoing.