Brent Sikkema, the influential gallery owner, was found dead in his apartment in Rio

Manhattan art dealer Brent Sikkema, who represented such prominent artists as Kara Walker, Jeffrey Gibson and Vic Muniz, was found dead in his Rio de Janeiro apartment on Monday evening.

Brazilian publications reported The gallery owner, who helped found Sikkema Jenkins & Co., was discovered with stab wounds to his body after the local fire department was called to his apartment in the Jardim Botanico neighborhood.

“It is with great sadness that the gallery announces the passing of our beloved founder,” his business partners, Meg Malloy and Michael Jenkins, said in a statement. “The gallery mourns this tremendous loss and will live on in its spirit.”

Brazilian police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Officers will listen to witnesses, search for more information and conduct further investigations to shed light on the case,” the Rio de Janeiro state civil police said in a statement.

Sikkema (75 years old) worked in the art world for more than 50 years, and opened his gallery in New York in 1991 under the name Worcester Gardens. The gallery, which focused on contemporary art, was an early move from the SoHo neighborhood to the Chelsea Arts District in 1999, where it quickly brought in new partners and renamed the gallery.

The agency has maintained a small but influential roster that has helped build the careers of artists like Walker, who gave her first solo exhibition in New York nearly 30 years ago and still continues to show with the gallery. Other notable artists in the company include Sheila Hicks, Louis Fratino and Jennifer Packer.

“I was shocked,” said Yancey Richardson, a longtime friend who runs a gallery across the street and shared a photo shoot with photographer Mitch Epstein. “Brent had a great eye and thought outside the box. He wasn't just putting together one panel show after another.

Richardson said Sikkema had been less involved with his gallery in recent years as he looked toward retirement. “He was trying to back out,” she said.

New York gallerist Alexander Gray said Worcester Gardens' visionary program in the early 1990s honored lives affected by AIDS, homophobia, sexism, racism and censorship.

“Through the gallery and his personal activism, Brent has nurtured a generation of artists exploring identity, representation and experimental forms,” Gray said.

Sikkema's death comes ahead of the critical offering of one of the gallery's senior artists, Jeffrey Gibson, who is preparing to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale in April. The exhibition is considered the international arts version of the Olympic Games, and its success requires significant fundraising and planning.

Sikkema lived most of the year in New York but found an affinity with Rio de Janeiro. Talking to IdeaFix Magazine Regarding his apartment there, near the Tijuca Forest, he described it as a true urban “oasis.”

Anna Ionova Contributed to reports.