ARTISTHelnwein

Artists in their pusuit to understand themselves and the world around them have been forced to face the pain of suffering. Helnwein, in his important "American Madonna" (Epiphany IV) painting, depicts with provocation the conflict between men of power and the weak. In this present day setting, the police are confronting a divine being.

Workmen finish one of a series of prints measuring 9.3 metres by 6.2 metres by Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein.The prints of Kilkenny children will hang on buildings in Kilkenny as parts of its arts festival beginning on August 10th.

The disturbing Work of Helnwein comes to Ireland Helnwein is a headline artist who works in tight sound bites on a very large scale. The works brand themselves with proof of his technical know-how in various media and are endorsed by the coolest celebrities of his generation. So much for the cover-story, so what lies within? Headlines lure you into stories that make you want to cry, smile or help to change the world. But when they stop at your own skin, you can get a sinking feeling, a sense of the bigness and badness outside and the impossibility of change.

Exhibition - catalogue One man show, Butler House, Kilkenny Installation in the Kilkenny city center Introduction by Claire O'Donoghue Essay by Mic Moroney Ninety children from around the city and country were photographed by the artist here in the High Street and nine are displayed in central locations around the city, dramatically enlarged up to 9 metres high. This ongoing project, begun here, will continue in other cities and towns in Ireland as the artist intends to expand the work to include one thousand Irish children. These beautiful,confident and happy children from Kilkenny contrast starkly with some of his more disturbing imagery. The juxtaposition of historical photographs of the Nazi regime with religious imagery of the Madonna and Child in the "Epiphany" series can make uneasy viewing not only in Germany and Austria but also here in Kilkenny. Amongst a number of possible readings of these works is the uncomfortable relationship between the church and oppression in its various forms. However, as the artist Nolde said, "harmless pictures seldom mean anything". Nolde was banned from painting by the Nazi regime.

Ingo Metzmacher, Jürgen Flimm, Gottfried Helnwein

Fall of the Angels. It's a slow fall. Its actually a fall in extreme slow motion. Its so slow that the motion seems frozen, like a glacier that's constantly flowing and moving, though not perceptible to our eyes, because for us, who live short and fast, glaciers appear to be static and eternal. That former angel seems to be suspended between hell and heaven, It has not hit the bottom yet - and it probably never will - but it's getting closer ....constantly. Gottfried Helnwein

"In Gottfried Helnweins porträthaftem Fotobild, das auf einem Gemälde basiert, betet ein kleiner Junge zu seinem Gott, und wer intensiv hinschaut, entdeckt plötzlich, dass die Hände des Jungen aus diletantisch gefertigten Protesen bestehen, Wie eine optische Mine ist der Schock im anheimelnden Kitschbild verborgen. Helnwein ist ein Meister in der Entlarvung von verlogener Bildrethorik." Gabriele Honnef-Harling - Mit mehr als 170 000 Besuchern war die Ausstellung "Der (im-)perfekte Mensch" die bestbesuchte Sonderausstellung des Deutschen Hygienemuseums Dresden seit 1990. Hygiene-Museum, Dresden - 20, 12. 2000 - 12. 8. 2001 Martin Gropius-Bau, Berlin - 16. 3. - 2. 6. 2002 Kunsthalle, Villa Kobe, Halle, (Saale) - 28. 2. - 14. 4. 2002

... Martin Waiser, Gottfried Helnwein, Hans Peter Duerr, Peter Handke, Wim Wenders, Peter Hacks, Frank Castori, Einar Schleef-en Peter Sloterdijk dus. ...

..."Kommunikationsforscher Paul Watzlawick, der Maler Gottfried Helnwein, der Regisseur Billy Wilder, die Meisterphotographin Inge Morath, der Vatikanbibliothekar Kardinal Alfons Maria Stickler"

La démarche de Gottfried Helnwein est différente. C’est l’enfant victime qui est son sujet. Victime, mais également sauveur, comme dans l’une de ses plus belles œuvres, “Kindskopf”, exposée dans l’eglise médiévale de Krems en Autriche, en 1991.

The Book Bukowski in Pictures is the first pictorial biography of cult writer, Charles Bukowski. The writer's extraordinary private and public life is illustrated with hundreds of photographs, most published for the first time. Extracts from Bukowski's poetry and prose are sprinkled throughout, together with drawings, cartoons, manuscripts, rare broadsides and personal letters. It features powerful new portraits of Bukowski by leading photographers such as Gottfried Helnwein and Tony Lane, former art director of Rolling Stone, as well as work by R.Crumb. All photographs have detailed captions by biographer Howard Sounes who has also written a powerful introductory text with new revelations gleaned from Bukowski's recently declassified FBI file. The end result is a fascinating life in pictures that will be essential for all Bukowski fans.

exhibition-catalogue Albertina, Wien - 10. 10. 2000 - 18. 10. 2000 Galerie Suppan, Wien - 23.10. - 25.11. 2000

Gottfried Helnwein, "Mickey", oil and acrylic on canvas,210cm x 310cm

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.

catalogue Antico Monastero di Santa Chiara "E’ sicuramente importante dimostrare, per la prima volta nell’Europa Occidentale, la comune fede in un unico Signore risorto" Mons. Michel Berger