ARTISTHelnwein

Viewers as well as critics describe his work as grotesque, audacious, shocking, and insulting. One who sees him in person is rather surprised at the fact that he is sane. His works are largescale, photorealistic paintings of horror. The artist has worked in diverse genres including watercolor, oil, and installation. However, his work's primary theme has always referenced his childhood. He does not render the beauty of childhood but spits an audacious, persistent interpretation of war, crime, damage, and holocaust. In "Adoration of the Magi", painted in 1996, for example, five men in Gestapo-like uniforms encircle a baby interpreted as Jesus or Hitler. Helnwein projects his weird vision without hesitation. Despite this uncanny quality, his works gain a high reputation, and are collected by many prestigious art museums around the world, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Smithsonian Museum.

TOP 10 The Gottfried Helnwein exhibition "The Child" at the Palace of the Legion of Honor (San Francisco Fine Arts Museums, July) was chosen as the most important show of a contemporary artist in 2004. "In the first of two shows (the other at the Modernism Gallery in November), Helnwein's large format, photo-realist images of children of various demeanors boldly probed the subconscious. Innocence, sexuality, victimization and haunting self-possession surge and flicker in Helnwein's unnerving work."

Desde una edad temprana, el joven Helnwein vio en la represión e intolerncia propias de la educación católica un paralelismo del fascismo. Después de abandonar la escuela por esos motivos, fue admitido en el Institute of Higher Graphic Instruction, conocido por tener tendencias "experimentales". Como protesta ante la rigidez de la institución, cortó su mano con una navaja y dibujó a Adolf Hitler con su propia sangre. EI acto le valió la expulsión, así como una clara conciencia sobre el poder de una imagen. Terminó sus estudios en la Academia de Artes de Viena.

Her lips are parted and colored a luscious deep red. The pancake makeup on her face gives off a marble-white glow. A jacket, adorned with braided gold epaulets at the shoulders, yawns open, exposing a wide expanse of skin down her chest. She appears to be about 8 years old. There was a time, not so long ago, when the subject of Gottfried Helnwein's new, large-format digital prints at San Francisco's Modernism Gallery might have alarmed or even scandalized a viewer. Not anymore -- or at least not so reflexively... Adults bring a trunkful of contradictory cultural baggage to any representations of children. That's what makes the work of Helnwein so powerful. In his show, "The Child," at the Legion of Honor, deformed infants and bandaged children stir feelings of pity, defiance and uneasiness about exploitation. There's an ambiguously disturbing painting of a girl aiming a gun into an open refrigerator and another of a bare-breasted mother and child surrounded by Aryan soldiers. But the most haunting images, here and across town at Modernism, may be the ones of children who seem strangely oblivious to the adult gaze. Some of Helnwein's children peer right past the onlooker. Others sleep, dreaming of anything but us behind their silky eyelids. And some, like the enormous, half- shadowed "Head of a Child" at the Legion, see straight through us with cloudless, infinite blue eyes.

Helnwein is highly recommended even to those who do not have a predilection for morbid or grotesque art, for his intention is not merely to shock or titillate. Whereas many modern artists get lost in the artifice of excessive conceptualism, Gottfried Helnwein continues to produce challenging, thought-provoking work based on the weight of the subject matter, not the way in which it is presented. Having produced a wide range of imagery in a variety of mediums, Helnwein’s development is fascinating to trace from conceptual beginnings to his current synthesis of pop and fine art.

Using the metaphor of youthful innocence as a means to reveal the age-old violence that continues to permeate our times, Gottfried Helnwein produces impeccable realist paintings that send shivers down the spine. Casting children in the roles of both perpetrators and victims of war and terror, the LA-based artist strikes a sensitive nerve with his haunting visual narratives.

Here, Decadence is envisioned as a response to apocalypse, economic turmoil and the effects of late capitalism. Decadence Now!: Visions of Excess reaches back to the 1970s to examine pre-millennial rumblings of alienation, aestheticism, morbidity, pornography, intoxication and madness in the art of Robert Mapplethorpe, Cindy Sherman, Matthew Barney, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Gilbert and George, Keith Haring, Gottfried Helnwein, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Yasumasa Morimura, Catherine Opie, Zhang Peng, Pierre et Gilles, Andres Serrano, Joel-Peter Witkin, David Wojnarowicz and many others.

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.

I know his paintings since I was a little child and made my first steps in a museum- and for me he`s definitely the artist that evokes the most intensive feelings that I Know.

Well, the world is a haunted house, and Helnwein at times is our tour guide through it. I think in anything that is really relevant and emotional art, there is some kind of a mirror that people experience. I don't think that you can recognize a feeling from something that you look at unless it's part of yourself, and so when someone is willing to take on the sadness, the irony, the ugliness and the beauty in the kind of way that Gottfried Helnwein does.

... his startling body of work: macabre paintings with photographic resonance played out on a grand scale and often in public settings. Throughout his career, Helnwein has glided easily between watercolor, oil and installation work, but his big subject has always been childhood, and not the happy sort. With titles like ‘‘The Murmur of the Innocents’’ and ‘‘God of Sub-Humans,’’ these works — executed with obsessive, old-master-worthy technique — can be as bludgeoning as, say, a Rammstein riff, but you can’t take your eyes off them.

I didn’t become an artist because I thought I knew the answers. But I had questions. When I started painting I was like an autistic child. I had no contact with the so-called “Higher Arts.” My aesthetics were inspired by poorly painted saints from the late 19th century, Donald Duck comics, Jimi Hendrix, Captain Beefheart, and the Rolling Stones. Originally I didn’t even want to become an artist. As a kid I thought painters were boring old guys with beards and berets standing in front of easels and painting abstract canvases all day long. Being a member of the Rolling Stones seemed to me more like the ideal form of existence as an artist.

Salvador Dali's "Hitler Masturbating" is a masterpiece of satire, or so says my inner Beavis, anyhow. Gottfried Helnwein's painting Epiphany I is another excellent example, reminding us that not only was Hitler once a baby, but also that we can recognize him without his mustache.

"Die Stille der Unschuld" wird am 23.-26-9.2010 auf dem International Film Festival of Fine Art in Szolnok, Ungarn (www.tiszamozi.hu) und am 16.-26.9.2010 auf dem Helsinki Intl Film Festival "Love & Anarchy" (www.hiff.fi) gezeigt. Die "Documentary Edge New Zealand Trust" in Neuseeland hat ihn in ihr Filmarchiv unter "Die besten Filme" aufgenommen.

Deshalb sei diese Ausstellung auch so wichtig für ihn, in Wien, einer Stadt, in der so große Künstler wie der von ihm verehrte Egon Schiele wirkten. Die „schräge Schönheit“, die Schiele bei seinen „Porträts der Sexualität“ erfand, seien sicher ein unbewusster Einfluss auf ihn, den ehemaligen Zögling einer christlichen Schule, der nur Leonardo da Vinci kannte, gewesen, meinte er. Prägender für seine Ästhetik, zählt er bereitwillig auf, waren aber David Lynchs Film „Blue Velvet“, der Surrealismus und noch ein Österreicher – Gottfried Helnwein, der ihn zur Kunst überhaupt erst ermutigte.

Die Vorführzeiten im Filmhaus Kino Köln: 1.7. 17.30 Uhr 2.7. 19.30 Uhr 3.7. 17.30 Uhr 4.7. 16.00 und 21.30 Uhr 5.7. 18.00 Uhr 6.7. 19.30 Uhr 7.7. 17.30 Uhr 8.7. 21:30 Uhr

Der Mann macht es seinem Publikum nicht leicht. Verstörende Bilder schafft er, fotorealistische Gemälde ebenso wie Fotographien über die dunklen Seiten der menschlichen Natur, über Qualen und Schmerzen, über Verletzung und Gewalt. Der Österreicher Gottfried Helnwein wurde damit zu einem der weltweit bekanntesten und zugleich umstrittensten deutschsprachigen Künstler der Nachkriegszeit.

Kinostart: Deutschland, 17.06.10 Berlin, Köln, Hamburg, Hannover, Stuttgart, Freiburg, Kassel, Nürnberg, Karlsruhe Weitere Termine

Was den Film prägt, ist seine unglaubliche Stille. Die ruhige, beinahe regungslose Kamera Susu Grunenbergs zeigt Helnwein bei der Arbeit, aus dem Off nur seine Stimme, die von künstlerischem Ansatz und Werdegang erzählt. Man wird unweigerlich in den Bann der Geschichte gezogen. Es ist wie bei einer Unterhaltung: Je leiser das Gegenüber spricht, desto aufmerksamer hört man ihm zu. Ganz still allerdings ist es allerdings nicht. Die einzigen Geräusche, die man hin und wieder hören kann, sind die spielender Kinder, was nicht ohne ist, wenn Helnwein zeitgleich Schicht um Schicht rote Farbe auf das Bild eines weiß gekleideten Mädchens aufträgt. Das ist harter Stoff – provokativ, aber eben umso intensiver und eindringlicher.

Mit "Der Künstler Gottfried Helnwein - Die Stille der Unschuld" beweist Regisseurin Claudia Schmid, dass sie sich zu Recht als Schöpferin authentischer Künstlerporträts und qualitativ hochwertiger Dokumentarfilme über bildende Kunst einen Namen gemacht hat. In ihrem ersten abendfüllenden Film zeigt sie durch stille Beobachtung und im persönlichen Gespräch, dass hinter dem Bild des Provokateurs Gottfried Helnwein ein Mann mit ausgeprägtem Gespür für das Zeitgeschehen und die Krankheiten unserer Gesellschaft steht, der auf eingängige und kompromisslose Weise darauf aufmerksam zu machen versteht. Ein aufschlussreiches und gelungenes Porträt.

Der in Wien geborene und heute meist in Irland lebende Künstler Gottfried Helnwein hat gleich mit seinen ersten öffentlichen Aktionen und Ausstellungen in den späten 60er und frühen 70er Jahren für Skandale gesorgt. Einmal mussten die zuständigen Kuratoren sogar seine Gemälde wieder abhängen lassen, um einen Streik der Angestellten zu verhindern. Mittlerweile ist Helnwein zwar im Mainstream des internationalen Kunstbetriebs angekommen – Arnold Schwarzenegger hat sich von ihm nach seiner Wahl zum Gouverneur von Kalifornien porträtieren lassen und zudem noch ein Landschaftspanorama bei ihm in Auftrag gegeben, das nun in einem Konferenzsaal in seinem (Noch-)Amtssitz in Sacramento hängt. Aber Helnweins hyperfotorealistische Bilder von bandagierten und geschundenen Kindern, von ermordeten und mordenden Mädchen polarisieren immer noch. Die Albträume, die sein Werk vor etwa 40 Jahren bei einem Wiener Kritiker ausgelöst hat, sind nicht Geschichte, sie können auch einen heutigen Betrachter verfolgen.

Und doch wird man in Claudia Schmids wohltuend gelassenem Künstlerporträt "Die Stille der Unschuld" den Eindruck nicht los, es mit einem Mann zu tun zu haben, der beharrlich auf die Gewaltsamkeit des menschlichen Daseins hinweist, weil dieser Aspekt ihn tatsächlich zutiefst beunruhigt. Ein Künstler, der sich seiner sicher ist und der sich zu verteidigen weiß, der wilde Geschichten in geruhsam wienerischem Pathos erzählt, zu denen Schmid Aufnahmen endlosen Minimalgepinsels, unterbrochen vom denkerischen Schluck aus dem Kaffeebecher gesellt. Ein Film mit Sogwirkung oder Abstoßungseffekt. Wie die Bilder.

Isiklikult häirib mind Helnweini juures tema tuntus šokikunstnikuna. Šokk viitab justkui mingile lühiajalisele afektile, sisse raiutud rabavale tundele. Meenuvad haisevad menstruatsiooniverega maalitud feministamaalid ja reaalsed risti löödud rotikorjused. Helnweini teosed töötavad pikem pikaajalisema õõvastuse mehhanismiga, mida ma šokiks ei kutsuks. Maalimislaadi järgi võiks teda üldse kategoriseerida hüperrealistiks. Aga hüperrealist ta, eksju, ei ole sest hüperrealistid tegelesid selliste progressiivsete, oluliste ja eluliste teemadega nagu läikivad autod ja poefassaadid. Et siis kodanlik hüperrealism mitte, labane šokikunst ka mitte. Mina nimetaksin seda peeneks psühholoogiaks. Ja kindlasti ka ülikõvaks.

Originally conceived in 2004 with pre-production throughout 2005 via The Wild Bunch (UK) and with an initial budget of $5-7 million, 'Phantasmagoria' was due to begin filming in 2006. Lily Cole, inspiration of Tim Burton's recent 'Alice in Wonderland', was originally cast as Manson's Alice for 'Phantasmagoria'. This teaser also features real-life twin sisters engaging in questionable acts and burlesque superstar Dita Von Teese. The figure in the medical mask is artist Gottfried Helnwein, and the bird-face masked character and white-gloved Lewis Carroll impresario [are both] Marilyn Manson.

This amazing, eight foot Gottfried Helnwein piece will look dope in some lucky Disney exec's office! So 600 mil... PLUS a Mickey painting! Filmmaker Kevin Smith writes WaxWord that he has desperately been trying to help Bob and Harvey Weinstein close the deal to buy Miramax. "I've sweetened the Weinstein's offer to buy Miramax back," he writes. "All day yesterday and just now this morning, I've been throwing Tweets and large artwork at the Mouse to up the ante, but they've not responded." Smith is a Weinstein diehard, who has been following the MIramax sale closely. The brothers bravely backed Smith in making such lasting cultural oddities ...landmarks... movies as "Clerks," "Mallrats," and "Chasing Amy." He has been Twittering (@thatkevinsmith) to his million-plus followers about the deal - offernig Mickey Mouse paintings, for example. The deal is in the midst of pitched negotiations since the Weinsteins were granted an exclusive window through the weekend to try and close the deal.

Das Marilyn-Manson-Porträt von Gottfried Helnwein ragt im Linzer Lentos Museum schräg aus der Wand heraus - so, als wolle sich das Bild den Besuchern in den Weg stellen. Immer wieder sind in der neuen Präsentation der Museumssammlung solche "Störenfriede" zu sehen, die sich noch dazu nicht an den chronologischen Aufbau halten: Helnweins Bild hängt neben Andy Warhols Mao-Porträt, Arnulf Rainer neben dem Expressionisten Schmitt-Rottluff, Keith Haring neben Kokoschka.

Montag, 22.20 Uhr ATV

This leads to the current governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Who will he select to depict him – in all his glory? There already exists an exquisite portrait of Schwarzenegger the body-builder done in 1977 by Jamie Wyeth. Were they alive today, perhaps Richard Rubenstein (of Interview cover fame), or even Andy Warhol himself, could have painted the official portrait. Since post-Studio 54, Schwarzenegger has been good friends with Gottfried Helnwein. Given his style of hyperrealism, I would not be surprised if he is chosen to paint the official portrait. This would be a similar break with tradition as was Brown's work, but given the history of this Governor and the unorthodox nature of both his personality and his ascension, a traditional portrait would seem out of place.

On ne peut pas ne pas remarquer que les artistes présents à la Biennale du Whitney sont méthodiquement mis en avant par leurs galeries – mais certains prétendront que c’est plutôt l’inverse qui se produit, et que les grosses galeries commerciales dictent les choix des curators. Si la crise explique à la fois le renouveau bienvenu des galeries et certaines inégalités, nous choisirons comme œuvres emblématiques de l’Armory Show 2010 la danseuse de Degas renversée par Richard Jackson à la galerie GP&N Vallois (Paris) et le regard troublant, tenace, de l’enfant peinte par Gottfried Helnwein à la galerie Friedman Benda (New York) : bouleversements, doutes, mais qualité.

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

A highly satisfying survey of his work at the Legion of Honor museum titled "The Child" was dominated by images of children, as was a current exhibition of his more recent work at Modernism.

Linz - Die bisher umfassendste Sammlungspräsentation des Linzer Kunstmuseums Lentos wurde am Mittwoch in einer Pressekonferenz mit Direktorin Stella Rollig und Kuratorin Elisabeth Nowak-Thaller präsentiert. Unter dem Titel "You never know what will happen next..." sind knapp 200 Werke von mehr als 120 Künstlern bis Ende November zu sehen. Im Pop-Art-Raum (1970 bis 1979) ist gleich dreimal Disneys berühmte Maus zu sehen: Sie ist sowohl Teil von Claes Oldenburgs "Geometrische Maus" als auch von Jim Dines "Picabia III", eine moderne und beängstigende Variante von Mickey zeigt Gottfried Helnweins "The Golden Age 1 (Marilyn Manson)".

Helnwein's realization of the final scene takes the breath away: a view of dozens of bloodied children's bodies, some of them hanging, some of them turning over and over in mid-air, as a vocal ensemble sings their words while kneeling on stage. This vision connects eerily with an exhibition in the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Centre plaza, adapted from one the Austrian Artist mounted in Cologne in 1988, marking the 50th anniversary of the Nazis' anti-Jewish Kristallnacht. It shows two rows of innocent, haunted-looking child's faces, one row with eyes open; the other with eyes closed, lined up as if in a concentration camp (Selektion is the exhibit's title).

Famous Austrian designer and artist Gottfried Helnwein designed the set and costumes for “The Child Dreams” Opera.  He also presents his work outside the opera. Helnwein says his work and the playwright’s have a strong internal connection.  Gottfried Helnwein: “In my work, the center of everything was always the child, the child versus the world of death, the world of corruption, the world of greed and destruction, and the child standing for innocence, purity, and I think that's a spirit of the play.”

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.

One of the most important productions of the Israeli Opera's 25th anniversary season is the world premiere of the opera The Child Dreams, based on the most poetic and lyric play by the late Hanoch Levin, undoubtedly, one of Israel's greatest playwrights. With his stage design, costumes, make-up and videos, Gottfried Helnwein created a breathtaking and revolutionary new visual realization for that play. Together with director Omri Nitzan he developed a new conception for the adaption as an opera . Composed is the opera by Israeli composer Gil Shohat, and David Stern, the Israeli Opera's music director, is conducting this new opera featuring closed to 20 Israeli opera singers on the stage. Helnwein also included dancer and choreographer Gregor Seyffert who is in charge of the choreography.

SELEKTION-NINTH NOVEMBER NIGHT מיצב של האמן גוטפריד הלנוויין, לזכר "ליל הבדולח", 1938, אשר מוצב בפעם הראשונה בישראל. המיצב הוקם לראשונה בסתיו 1988, לרגל ציון 50 שנה לפוגרום ליל הבדולח, שנערך ב-9 בנובמבר 1938, והוצב בין הקתדרלה של קלן ומוזיאון לודוויג, לצד מסילת הברזל של תחנת הרכבת של קלן. אורכו של המיצב היה 100 מטר, והוא הורכב מתמונות גדולות של פני ילדים, כשורה בלתי נגמרת, והם כמו עומדים בשורת סלקציה. במיצב המקורי צולמו פניהם של ילדים נוצרים,יהודים ונכים, שחיו בגרמניה בשנת 1988. בלילה השני אחרי פתיחת המיצב לקהל, אנונימים חתכו

"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.

“All a poet can do today is warn”, World War 1 soldier poet, Wilfred Owen, wrote in a draft Preface for a book of anti-war poems he would never see published. He was killed on the eve of Armistice Day 1918. World War One, The Great War, The War to End All Wars . . . within twenty summers, Europe was engulfed again in the even greater catastrophies of the fascist era. The work of Gottfried Helnwein has its genesis in these years. They obsess him as a creative artist. As a kind of guardian angel, he grapples with them on our behalf. That such a nightmare would never visit us again. Or our children. Or our children’s children. Or “. . .all those still to come”.

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.

Eindrucksvolle Bilder aus seinem Buch "Faces" sind von Helnwein zu sehen: Er streicht hier "virile Fantasien" aus der Perspektive des Modells hevor: So inszeniert er in drei Fotos Keith Richards im Prozess des Zigaretten-Anzündens, daneben blickt Michael Jackson traurig und unzugänglich in die Kamera. Effektvolle Betrachtungsweisen ergeben sich durch die Hängung, die einerseits H.C. Artmann und Clint Eastwood einander gegenüberstellt oder der krasse Widerspruch zwischen einem fröhlichen Elton John und dem von seiner Nazi-Verstrickung gezeichneten Bildhauer und Architekten Arno Breker.

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.

I've walked into Modernism, and I can't seem to leave. A young girl of perhaps 9 or 10 is the central figure in a riveting series, called The Murmur of the Innocents by renowned artist Gottfried Helnwein. She is large-eyed and blond-haired, with a gravity that belies her years, both mesmerizing and painful to look at. I make the rounds of the gallery with the rest of the visitors, each of us transfixed. First she looks directly at us, then she's lost in her own sadness, oblivious to our stares. Around the next corner, she's sullen, then defiant, then helpless in a blindfold; finally she's bloody and bandaged, and we don't know why. I finally tear myself away, but she stays with me, along with the questions I cannot voice.

Premiere; SO 10.05. | 14.00 | Pinakothek der Moderne, Ernst von Siemens-Auditorium MI 13.5. um 17:00 Gasteig Vortragsaal

7. Juni um 12:00 im Cinenova Arthouse- Center Herbrandstr. 31 in 50825 Köln Ehrenfeld

Vorführung: 13.11.2009 im Rahmen des Festivals

Earlier this week, it emerged that controversial Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein will unveil a tribute to Michael Jackson at the event. The artist, photographer and installation and performance artist, who was a friend of the singer, will reportedly show larger than life portraits of children and paintings of Jackson himself. Helnwein collaborated with Jackson several times and the singer used a Helnwein painting of wounded children for the booklet for his 1995 album Save "HIStory”. The Vienna-born artist has in the past caused controversy and public outrage with his work, much of which focuses on children and the Holocaust.

Wenige berührende Momente. Was von der Gala übrig blieb? Einige denkwürdige Momente. Die verstörende Installation Helnweins etwa, deren Bilder traumatisierter, verletzter und getöteter Kinder manchem Zuschauer die dunklen Seiten von Jacksons Geschichte in Erinnerung riefen.

ÖSTERREICH: Welche Erinnerungen nehmen Sie jetzt aus Wien mit? MacDowell: Fantastisch war das Treffen mit Gottfried Helnwein und die Albertina-Ausstellung.

Hyperrealistische Darstellungen verletzter, missbrauchter Kinder. Appelle gegen das kollektive Verdrängen. Ein Spiel mit Gegensätzen: Unschuld und Schrecken, Ohnmacht und Gewalt, Schönheit und Leid. Mit seiner »Schockästhetik« provoziert der österreichische Maler und Fotokünstler Gottfried Helnwein seit über 30 Jahren. Das Portrait eines Unbequemen.

One man show

Weitere Preisträger in diesem Jahr waren Sir Bob Geldof (Musik), Maximilian Schell (Lebenswerk), Bundespräsident a.D. Prof. Dr. Roman Herzog (Toleranz), Großherzogin Maria Teresa von Luxemburg (Charity), Veronica Ferres (Film), Sir David Frost (Entertainment), Ministerpräsident a.D. Romano Prodi und Staatspräsident a.D. Aleksander Kwasinewski (Europa). Die Laudatio für Gottfried Helnwein hielt die ehemalige Vize-Präsidentin des deutschen Bundestages Frau Dr. Antje Vollmer.

DENVER, CO.- The Denver Art Museum (DAM) today announced a major reinstallation of its Modern & Contemporary Art galleries with an eye toward the human form. Focus: The Figure includes works from the DAM’s collection that have never been seen before, as well as known visitor favorites. The installation presents a dialogue on art and politics with many works offering insight into universal social issues. The rotation, which officially opens on August 23, was curated by Christoph Heinrich, DAM’s Polly and Mark Addison curator of Modern & Contemporary Art, who joined the Museum in 2007.

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.

The Austro-Irish artist Gottfried Helnwein is responsible for the artworks in this issue. With his hyper-realistic pictures, whose most common subjects are pain, injury and violence, Helnwein (born in 1948) is certainly one of the best-known and at the same time most controversial of German-speaking artists.