Margins: Jerry Gogosian
A Meme is Worth a Thousand Words.
Image credit: Courtesy Jerry Gogosian AKA Hilde Lynn Helphenstein
Jerry Gogosian is the nom de plume of one of the art world’s most scathing critics, Hilde Lynn Helphenstein. Most of us follow her on Instagram for the memes, but she has also created “an online community clamouring for primary access, micro-aggressed by the algorithm … and thoroughly addicted to art.” With a monthly subscription you get ‘Insider Access,’ art market reports, art fair newsletters, artist interviews and, best of all, Jerry’s musings on the art world. Oh, and there is also a shop with tongue in cheek merch. Yet despite her biting satire, Jerry Gagosian is increasingly invited to play in the very system she derides. If you know, you know! VAULT spoke to Hilde aka Jerry about all that is wrong with the art world.
The art world seems to exist in its own echo chamber. Is there a place for criticism and critique or is this by and large redundant now?
Yelp, the restaurant rating app, killed the art curator. Remember when it came out and everyone thought they were food critics? In the beginning, it wasn’t so bad. But it quickly devolved into a place for complaints or ‘5 stars for a free coffee on us next time’. Then Instagram came along, with its like counts and followers. This started meaning a lot to curators, collectors and institutions. No one wanted anything to be too hard anymore. They just wanted to ‘like’ something, look through the comments for drama, then move on to whatever the algorithm was ginning up next. People’s aesthetic taste is formed by what they see in their stories, their main
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