August 10th, 2000
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Ghost in the Shell
Robert A. Sobieszek
Curator of Photography, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Photography and the Human Soul, 1850-2000
Historian Peter Selz has compared Gottfried Helnwein's tortured, screaming, and bandaged self-portraits to Messerschmidt's sculptural self-portraits, but the artist has said, " The reason why I took up the subject of self-portraits and why I have put myself on stage was to function as a kind of representative for the suffering, abused and oppressed human being. I needed a living body to demonstrate and exemplify the effect of violence inflicted upon a defenseless victim. There is nothing autobiographical or therapeutical about it, and I don’t think it says anything about me personally.
" The reason why I took up the subject of self-portraits and why I have put myself on stage was to function as a kind of representative for the suffering, abused and oppressed human being. I needed a living body to demonstrate and exemplify the effect of violence inflicted upon a defenseless victim. There is nothing autobiographical or therapeutical about it, and I don’t think it says anything about me personally. Also I was the best possible model for my experiments: endlessly patient and always available."
Gottfried Helnwein
GHOST IN THE SHELL
Photography and the Human Soul, 1850-2000
Robert A. Sobieszek
Curator of Photography, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
