ARTISTHelnwein

The Choice, was an exhibition that identified unknown and emerging artists through the viewpoint of leading contemporary artists. We invited an international group of artists to engage their own curatorial ideas. In the role of curator, these artists had been asked to present the work of artists they have followed or whose work has affected them in a personal way. Curator/Artists Ida Applebroog: Jane Higgins, Saeri Kiritani, Lisa Petsu Lagunes Nicole Eisenman: Alison Kelly, Maria E. Piñeres, Suzanne Wright Robert Gober: Jonathon Hexner Antony Gormley: Ignassi Aballi, John Patrick Clayman Gottfried Helnwein: Iris Andraschek, Danielle Kraay Damien Hirst: Rachel Howard Cindy Sherman: Charles Clough, Susan Jennings, David Krueger, Gail Le Boff Laurie Simmons: Helen Rousakis, Pedro Barbeito Kiki Smith: Joey Kötting Sam Taylor-Wood: Georgie Hopton

"I ask, I do not answer." - My works are questions, not answers, says the Austrian, Gottfried Helnwein, time and time again focusing on the most sore points of contemporary, general and private history. The retrospective exhibition of this controversial artist was opened yesterday in Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art and is open until 22nd of November. Helnwein says he became an artist because, being born after the war, he had so many questions to ask. He also stresses that the same questions must be asked again and again. "I, as probably every artist does, have only one theme which I incessantly vary. The use of diverse techniques is but a means of getting closer to one's original goals."

Wäinö Aaltonens museum inleder höstsäsongen med en utställning av arbeten av österrikaren Gottfried Helnwein (f. 1948 i Wien). Här finns stora m†lningar vars tematik borrar sig in i smärtpunkterna i 1900-talets allmänna och personhistoria, här finns fotografier av den moderna kulturens märkesmän från Andy Warhol till Keith Richards samt teckningar, akvareller och arbeten i blandteknik. Helnweins konst har den stora allmänheten lärt känna främst genom hans affischer. Han är också känd från pärmbilder till Life och Time. I sina arbeten behandlar Helnwein religionens och den allmänna moralens inverkan på barnens och minoriteternas ställning samt t.ex. åsterrikes och Tysklands nazistiska förflutna och det aktiva bortglömmandet av den. Både i hans porträtt och i hans psykologiskt träffande studier framträder en ångestfylld värdevärld.

The child has grown into a world famous artist. But he has carried his questions with him. Today opens a large retrospective exhibition of Helnwein's art in Waino Aaltonen Museum of Art in Turku. The exhibition contains aquarels, oil paintings, drawings and photographs. They have often caused controversies by dealing with subjects that are all too sensitive.

"Child's Head", 1991, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 650x403.5 Pg. 278 The early stages of this monumental head can be seen in Helnwein's widely varied portrayals from the seventies of suffering children, but above all in the Cologne installation of anonymous children's portraits "9th November Night" from 1988. The human face, in particular the child's face, is of great fascination for Helnwein and consequently accounts for one of his central pictorial subjects. The monumental face of a little girl which is introduced here is, as it were, representative of all children. In our adult society oriented towards profit and success, children can almost be described as a fringe group, their interests indeed being observed in a comparatively modest fashion. Against this background, this monumentalizing of the face in connection with the hyperrealistic style of painting is to be understood as an oppressive irritation of our customary experience of perception. Originally the child's head was shown in a Minorite church in Krems, Stein; in fact it was placed at the focal point of a huge early Gothic room which lent the picture a positively sacral tone.

"Gods, Heroes and Idols"

The first major museum exhibition to explore the influence of four decades of rock and roll music on contemporary art and artists includes the work of important contemporary artists from each era. Rock and roll's history, personalities, songs, and imagery are the subject of more than 100 works of art in all media by 97 of the world's leading artists including Andy Warhol, Gottfried Helnwein, William Wegman, Nam June Paik, Jeff Koons, Robert Rauschenberg, Annie Liebovitz, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Carrie Mae Weems. Organized by Curatorial Assistance, Inc.

Gottfried Helnwein- Retrospective in the State Russian Museum, St Petersburg