ARTISTHelnwein

During the past several years, the concepts of decadence have begun to appear more and more in art theory, often in relation to current art. Decadence is one of the continual properties of modern art. The commonness of the concept of decadence, or its parallel existence outside of the sphere of art, also enables new methodological processes and combinations, and discovers new territories and relationships. Decadent art is excessive, it exceeds the level of what is generally acceptable, and it provocatively demolishes the most sensitive taboos. Decadence is also firmly connected to the clear stance of outsider individualism. Starting on the 1970's, we can monitor the continual effort of the artists like Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Nobuyoshi Araki, Jake a Dinos Chapman, Robert Mapplethorpe, Damien Hirst, Zhang Peng, Keith Haring, Andres Serrano, Gottfried Helnwein etc. to work with typical decadent themes.

Auf 1.200 Quadratmetern Ausstellungsfläche wird den Fragen nach Außenseitertum und Selbststilisierung von Künstlern nachgegangen. Kuratorin der bis 26. April 2011 angesetzten, auf Basis der eigenen Sammlung des Hauses konzipierten Schau ist Alexandra Schantl. Der Titel "Ich ist ein anderer" entstammt einem Zitat des Dichters Arthur Rimbaud, kunsthistorischer Ausgangspunkt ist Egon Schieles Selbstporträt von 1910, erläutert das Museum in einer Aussendung.

Gustav Klimt, Arnold Schönberg, Alfred Kubin, Maria Lassnig, Arnulf Rainer, Gottfried Helnwein...

Gottfried Helnwein ist ein Künstler klarer Aussagen, ungezügelt und eigenwillig. Mit seinen hyperrealistischen Darstellungen gequälter Mädchen aus den 70er Jahren bis hin zu den Malereien und Fotografien von heute konfrontiert er uns mit den dunklen Seiten menschlicher Natur. Still aber schonungslos führt er die Leidensfähigkeit des Menschen am Schicksal des unschuldigen Kindes vor Augen und macht den Betrachter zum Mitwissenden und Mittäter bei Verletzung und Misshandlung. Nicht umsonst ist Helnwein einer der weltweit bekanntesten und zugleich umstrittensten deutschsprachigen Künstler der Nachkriegszeit.

The Armory Show is America's leading fine art fair devoted to the most important art of the 20th and 21st centuries. In its eleven years, the fair has become an international institution. Every March, artists, galleries, collectors, critics and curators from all over the world make New York their destination during Armory Arts Week

200 Werke von mehr als 120 Künstlern

The artist erected this art-installation originally in fall 1988 in the city of Cologne in Germany, on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the pogrom-night of November 9, 1938. The Installation was placed between the Cologne Cathedral and the Ludwig Museum, alongside the railroad track of the central station. It was entirely financed by the artist. A hundred meter long wall of pictures with large images of children's faces, in a seemingly endless row, as if made to line up to be "selected". With the faces of christian, jewish and handicapped children, that lived in Germany in 1988. In the second night after the opening, unknown people cut all the throats of the children on the pictures. For the first time this memorial is now presented in Israel and for that occasion the artist included faces of children living in Israel in 2010.

"In a very poetic way [Hanoch Levin] describes the world we live in," says Helnwein, "with the child as metaphor for innocence, purity, confronted with the corrupt adult world. The adult characters, even the mother and father, are all archetypes; the child doesn't understand this world. With complete trust, he thinks that the bond between himself and his mother is unbreakable, but, of course, it's broken… A huge picture-wall of a sleeping child, through which the soldiers break, is the first of four amazing sets, culminating in a "universe of dead children in an infinity of space."

Friedman Benda is pleased to announce its representation of the Austrian born artist Gottfried Helnwein. The artist’s first New York solo exhibition opens September 17th featuring a singular painting and two documentary films, an installation that calls to mind live performance. A second exhibition presenting a new body of work, currently in progress, will open at Friedman Benda in May 2010.

For Helnwein, the child is the symbol of innocence, but also of innocence betrayed. In today’s world, the malevolent forces of war, poverty, and sexual exploitation and the numbing, predatory influence of modern media assault the virtue of children. Robert Flynn Johnson, the curator in charge of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, has assembled a thought-provoking selection of Helnwein’s works and provided an insightful essay on his art in this exhibition catalogue. Helnwein’s work concerning the child includes paintings, drawings, and photographs, and it ranges from subtle inscrutability to scenes of stark brutality. Of course, brutal scenes—witness The Massacre of the Innocents—have been important and regularly visited motifs in the history of art. What makes Helnwein’s art significant is its ability to make us reflect emotionally and intellectually on the very expressive subjects he chooses. Many people feel that museums should be a refuge in which to experience quiet beauty divorced from the coarseness of the world. This notion sells short the purposes of art, the function of museums, and the intellectual curiosity of the public. The Child: Works by Gottfried Helnwein will inspire and enlighten many; it is also sure to upset some. It is not only the right but the responsibility of the museum to present art that deals with important and sometimes controversial topics in our society.

Auf rund 3.000 m2 Ausstellungsfläche spannt die Präsentation einen reichen Bogen vom französischen Impressionismus bis zur Kunst der Gegenwart. Mit wichtigen Werken des späten Picasso, Exponaten von Mark Rothko oder Francis Bacon führt die Ausstellung bis zur Kunst der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts und findet ihren Abschluss mit Gerhard Richter, Georg Baselitz, Anselm Kiefer und Gottfried Helnwein. Die rund 200 Exponate stammen aus der über 30.000 Arbeiten umfassenden Sammlung an Gegenwartskunst der Albertina und der Sammlung Batliner.

Gottfried Helnwein, Chuck Close, Marie Jo Lafontaine, Jannis Kounnellis, Helmuth Newton, Erwin Wurm, John Coplans, Elke Krystufek. Die Ausstellung "Body and Language" präsentiert diese unterschiedlichen künstlerischen Positionen mit ca. 80 Fotoarbeiten aus den Beständen der Albertina.

One man show

The Armory Show – Modern is a new section dedicated to international dealers specializing in historically significant Modern and contemporary art. This new program is being held on Pier 92 concurrent with The Armory Show, The International Fair of New Art on Pier 94. With one admission ticket, visitors to The Armory Show on March 5 - 8 will now have access not only to the newest developments in the art world, but also to the masterpieces that heralded them.