NEWSHelnwein

"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.

... works by Nobuyoshi Araki, Peter Beard, Annie Leibovitz, Helmut Newton, Thomas Ruff, Jörg Sasse, Wolfgang Tillmans as well as an unusual portrait of Michael Jackson by Gottfried Helnwein (estimate of 5,000-7,000 EUR) will be put up for auction.

Modernism Inc, San Francisco, Barry Friedman, New York

''Art Miami has done a really good job,'' said Miami collector Dennis Scholl, echoing an oft-heard sentiment at Tuesday's VIP opening, a charity event for Lotus House. Among works for sale: Gottfried Helnwein's photographs of Marilyn Mason at Barry Friedman gallery; Roy Lichtenstein's Water Lily at Galerie Terminus and an eye-catching photo of President-elect Barack Obama by Martin Scholler at Hasted Hunt Gallery.

Meet Gottfried Helnwein and 'The Last Child' in our new Volume 5 of TRUCE Magazine. An exclusive 34 page cover about this amazing artist and his current exhibition in Ireland, might thrill you a bit. At bookstores and newsstands around December. Are you ready for this?

Again and again, he has painted children in brutal, violent settings. He has used Chris­tian iconography to depict Nazi officers, and juxtaposed rampaging soldiers with Images of childhood innocence. Visceral reactions come with the territory: one Installation in Cologne was physically attacked by neo Nazis. And yet, he says, he does not set out to shock. "Shock is a useless effect," he says. "Somebody in shock is completely useless. I want to make somebody think." Instead, Helnwein's work speaks of a deep psychological need for meaning, even as it takes the form of violence and confrontation. Such an approach is rooted in the uneasy silences of growing up in post-war Austria and the shattered illusions of his early adult life, yet is still infused with an uneasy ideal­ism. His art has brought him material rewards. Over the past 30 years, he has become an art superstar. His paintings and photographs command large prices. As he talks in his Co Tipperary castle, garbed in black clothes and dark glasses, Helnwein has the air of a vet­eran rock star and the lifestyle to match it. The Sunday Times, Gerry McCarthy

Von der Wiederbelebung der Wiener Kunstschau 1908 im Wiener Belvedere bis zur Eröffnung der neuen Ausstellungsräumlichkeiten für Gegenwartskunst in der Albertina - dieser Herbst bietet eine wunderbare Gelegenheit, sich auf die Spuren österreichischen Kunstschaffens zu heften. Zumindest von Klimt bis Nitsch und von Emilie Flöge zur Helnwein-Version der Micky Mouse.

Gottfried Helnwein - ein künstlerischer Anarchist aus Prinzip. Seine Bilder erzählen von apokalyptischen Visionen. Seine Themen sind Schmerz, Gewalt, Religion und Politik. Der österreichische Maler, Grafiker und Fotokünstler Gottfried Helnwein provoziert seit mehr als 30 Jahren mit seiner Schock-Ästhetik. Schon seit Beginn seiner Karriere war Helnwein umstritten. Mit rotzig-radikalen Sätzen wie "von Walt Disney hab ich mehr gelernt, als von Leonardo da Vinci" stellt er den Kulturbetrieb in Frage. 3sat zeigt das Porträt anlässlich der musealen Werkschau des österreichischen Künstlers im Museum Lentos in Linz vom 10. März bis zum 12. Juni 2006.

Mit der Ausstellung «Nach 1970 - Österreichische Kunst aus der Albertina» setzt die Albertina eine Reihe fort, die sie im Vorjahr mit «Kunst nach 1970» begonnen hat. Diesmal liegt das besondere Augenmerk auf Österreich. Gezeigt werden rund 220 Werke, die einen weiteren Einblick in die insgesamt über 20'000 Arbeiten umfassende Sammlung an Gegenwartskunst der Albertina geben. Mit dieser Präsentation werden auch die neu errichteten Ausstellungsräume der Albertina im zweiten Obergeschoss eröffnet. Erstmals werden dabei zum Großteil jüngere Sammlungszuwächse der Öffentlichkeit vorgestellt. In der um 2'000 m² erweiterten Ausstellungsfläche werden Werke von über 33 Künstlerinnen und

Der begnadete Künstler rechnet im NEWS-Interview mit der Politik, dem Kapitalismus und den Regeln des Kunstmarkts ab.

Artists are the visual, verbal, and audio guardians of our collective consciousness. For example, few can remember the politics or history of 18th century Europe, but the music of Mozart and the paintings of Watteau continue to be a source of inspiration. We might not always like the message, but it is artists that distil the essence of an era. They serve as thoughtful messengers to a sometimes unperceptive present but an often receptive future.
 — Robert Flynn Johnson Gottfried Helnwein Catalogue for Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Helnwein: Ich bin trotz allem gerne in Los Angeles, muss ich sagen. Ich geniesse es, wenn ich früh in der Morgensonne durch die ausgestorbenen Strassen Downtowns ins Atelier gehe, vorbei all den Graffiti-Kunstwerken an den Fassaden der heruntergekommenen Industriebauten und dem Abfall auf der Strasse. Bis Mittag lebe ich in einer Ghost-Town, da hier vorher kaum einer auf ist. Es ist ein bisschen wie in einem Film. Es hat was von "Blade-Runner", der ja auch hier gedreht wurde. Verfall hat seine eigene Faszination und Ästhetik.

Again and again, he has painted children in brutal, violent settings. He has used Chris­tian iconography to depict Nazi officers, and juxtaposed rampaging soldiers with Images of childhood innocence. Visceral reactions come with the territory: one Installation in Cologne was physically attacked by neo Nazis. And yet, he says, he does not set out to shock. "Shock is a useless effect," he says. "Somebody in shock is completely useless. I want to make somebody think." Instead, Helnwein's work speaks of a deep psychological need for meaning, even as it takes the form of violence and confrontation. Such an approach is rooted in the uneasy silences of growing up in post-war Austria and the shattered illusions of his early adult life, yet is still infused with an uneasy ideal­ism. His art has brought him material rewards. Over the past 30 years, he has become an art superstar. His paintings and photographs command large prices. As he talks in his Co Tipperary castle, garbed in black clothes and dark glasses, Helnwein has the air of a vet­eran rock star and the lifestyle to match it.

LARGE-scale art installations dotted around Waterford’s city centre depicting war images are causing controversy because of their graphic content. The exhibition, The Last Child, by Austrian-born and Waterford-based artist Gottfried Helnwein, is part of the Waterford Fringe Festival and includes a variety of work placed at strategic locations in the city, such as the Quays, the Clock Tower, City Hall and John Roberts Square. Among the material featured in the images are depictions of children with guns and a child lying down, covered with blood, as well as various shots of children with their eyes closed, as if dead.

“For me, the reaction so far in Waterford is very good because people are talking about the theme of war and exploitation. For a child to grow up now, it’s the toughest time ever because children are flooded with violence in the media and internet and computer games where the only thing to do is kill people and they are very graphic. Entertainment is very violent but as long as it’s entertainment, it’s fine, but as soon as you do it as art, people get very sensitive. In my art I’m only reflecting the world and I wanted to raise awareness and make people think.”

An alternative title to “Angels Sleeping” for this exhibition could be “All Hail to the Wounded Child,” as many of the works center on irreparably wounded children (both externally and internally) as the innocent victims of war. The children in Helnwien’s works may also represent the lost or destroyed child in all of us, not only as victims of war, but as victims of modern society, with all its mindless violence and perverse attraction to aggressive mobs and disturbances. If there were a soundtrack to this exhibition, it would be a long, endless scream. Tony Ozuna, The Prague Post, 02. July 2008

Ve dvaceti namaloval Gottfried Helnwein vlastní krví obraz "führera“. Vedení grafické školy ve Vídni, kde studoval, obraz zabavilo a autora vyloučilo. Nyní je někdejšímu studentu-provokatérovi šedesát, při osobním setkání působí vyrovnaně a vyhlíží jako rocker a šaman v jedné osobě. Jeho hyperrealistické obrazy připomínají temnou nacistickou minulost, obrazy nevinných dětí ztělesňujících krásu a čistotu rané duše. Výstavu nazvanou Angels Sleeping hostí do konce srpna pražská Galerie Rudolfinum.

An alternative title to “Angels Sleeping” for this exhibition could be “All Hail to the Wounded Child,” as many of the works center on irreparably wounded children (both externally and internally) as the innocent victims of war. The children in Helnwien’s works may also represent the lost or destroyed child in all of us, not only as victims of war, but as victims of modern society, with all its mindless violence and perverse attraction to aggressive mobs and disturbances. If there were a soundtrack to this exhibition, it would be a long, endless scream.

Wie sah es in Arno Brekers Atelier aus? Helnwein: Überall standen Gips-Plastiken von Negern und Juden herum, die er nach dem Krieg hergestellt hatte. Eine heroisierende überlebensgroße Büste stellte einen beleibten Schwarzen in Uniform und vielen Orden dar. Ich fragte, wer das sei. „Das war der frühere Präsident der Elfenbeinküste“, antwortete er. „Der tauchte in den sechziger Jahren bei mir auf, legte seinen Arm um meine Schultern und sagte: ‚Breker, kommen Sie zu mir an die Elfenbeinküste. Ich werde Ihr zweiter Hitler sein". Breker sollte eine neue Hauptstadt entwerfen, was dieser auch sofort tat. Er zeigte mir das Gipsmodell dieses Utopia in dessen Mitte sich ein gigantischer Platz befand mit der riesigen Skulptur eines Afrikaners - mit zerrissenem Hemd und gesprengten Fesseln, der aufgewühlte Blick und die geballte Faust gen Himmel gerichtet. Auf meine Frage, was aus dem Projekt geworden sei, antwortete Breker mit leiser, resignierender Stimme "Der Präsident ist leider kurze Zeit darauf gestürzt worden" Wie reagierte Breker, als Sie ihn mit Ihrem Beuys-Porträt in der Hand fotografierten? Helnwein: Er hielt das Bild hoch und murmelte: „Das hätte sich der Beuys aber nicht träumen lassen.“

Helnwein in the Rudolfinum Gallery The exhibition entitled “Angels Sleeping” introduces works by the Austrian artist, Gottfried Helnwein, whose oeuvre has become a phenomenon of hyperrealist painting. His canvases, executed in the manner of photographic preciseness, draw from pop-culture as well as history, and the artist’s great subject is the position of a child in an extreme situation. The exhibition is divided to five sections which present the main subjects of Helnwein’s work, at the same time laying emphasis on his paintings from the most recent years. The first section displays portraits of the artist’s bandaged face; the second section contains references to the Nazi past of Austria, while the central subject of the third and fourth sections is child. The last section presents photographs inspired by pop-culture. The group of exhibited works was loaned from the property of the artist as well as from many public and private collections from Europe and the United States.

Helnwein in the Rudolfinum Gallery The exhibition entitled “Angels Sleeping” introduces works by the Austrian artist, Gottfried Helnwein, whose oeuvre has become a phenomenon of hyperrealist painting. His canvases, executed in the manner of photographic preciseness, draw from pop-culture as well as history, and the artist’s great subject is the position of a child in an extreme situation. The exhibition is divided to five sections which present the main subjects of Helnwein’s work, at the same time laying emphasis on his paintings from the most recent years. The first section displays portraits of the artist’s bandaged face; the second section contains references to the Nazi past of Austria, while the central subject of the third and fourth sections is child. The last section presents photographs inspired by pop-culture. The group of exhibited works was loaned from the property of the artist as well as from many public and private collections from Europe and the United States.

Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein conducts the commentary for a tour of his exhibition named "Angels Sleeping" at Rudolfinum Gallery in Prague Thursday, June 12, 2008. The exhibition deals with five circuits of his paintings: faces, violence committed against children, Nazism, "Art in America" and metaphorical portraits of the singer Marilyn Manson, seen in backgroud.

The exhibition Angels Sleeping is a thematic cross-section, predominantly of the painting work of the Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein. The five sections of the exhibition present the fundamental circuits of Helnwein’s work. The introduction comprises heads – faces, including the artist’s iconic self-portrait, painfully acute metaphors of the limits on freedom of expression in Austria in the 1970s and 80s. The artist’s merciless approach to the residues of the Nazi past of his country is a further theme, developed in monochrome, hyperrealistic painting. The central and still extremely relevant theme of Helnwein’s work however is das malträtierte Kind, the child exposed to suffering. The author engages with this theme in various positions from his early works from the 1970s up to the present day. His collection of works on this theme is given the largest space. Violence committed against children, in contrast with their passive exposure, distressed astonishment and impossibility of defending themselves against the world of adults is partially shifted into a further position, ironically entitled Art in Amerika. This presents the relationships of the white, frequently uniformed “majority” to other ethnic groups and minorities, particularly in the United States, sharpened by the photographic precision of the images.

Some might think that Los Angeles - its unrelenting sun, its one-step-away-from-reality perch -- is an incongruous place for someone like Helnwein. What he creates, regardless the medium - watercolor, oil, photography, performance art, sculpture - is a thorny psychological excursion into our sublimated self, our obscured corners and dark humors. His explorations into war crimes, Catholicism, disfigurement and the Holocaust are both unflinching and surgical. His work is in museum collections around the world, including those of LACMA and the Smithsonian, and critics have labeled it grotesque, fearless, disturbing and "veer[ing] dangerously close to offensive." People are surprised, he says, when they discern that he doesn't "seem insane."

Das Drama von Amstetten rückt ein Verbrechen ins Licht, das hinter Fassaden scheinbar heiler Familien geschieht. Das Bild des österreichischen Künstlers Gottfried Helnwein gibt den Schmerz der Kinderseelen wieder. "The Song I" hat der in Irland lebende Künstler diese Zeichnung aus den 70er Jahren genannt. Helnwein hat in seinem gesamten Schaffen Schmerz, Verletzung und Gewalt von und an Kindern thematisiert.

Amstetten zwischen Fassungslosigkeit und Medienrummel: Ein Verlies mitten im Ort, ein Vater, der den Kindern ein Martyrium antut - wie man nun die Teile von etwas Unbegreiflichem zusammenzufügen versucht. Das Verlies von Amstetten berührt auch etwas im Innersten der Österreicher, ihre dunkle Seite, die sich spiegelt in den Gedichten ihrer Autoren. Und in den Bildern von Gottfried Helnwein, wo Menschen zu sehen sind, denen Gabeln in die Augen gedrückt werden. Oder Mädchen, denen das Blut die Beine herunterläuft. Helnweins Bilder sind Albträume, sie handeln von Verliesen in den Köpfen...

9 Gottfried Helnwein

Gottfried Helnwein konzipierte und organisierte die erste Musumsausstellung des künstlerischen Werkes von Carl Barks. Von 1994 bis 1997 wurde die Retrospektive in zehn europäischen Museen gezeigt und von über 700 000 Menschen gesehen. - 2007 stellt er die Ausstellung für das Karikaturmuseum Krems neu zusammen, die nun das erste mal in Österreich gezeigt wird.

Various themes and concerns are explored by the artists including gender, social, and ethnic identity perception of the self (Su-en Wong); distortions of scale (Eisenman and Philips); use of cartoon or highly stylized imagery (Wesley, Ali, Fujita, Ofili); utilizing the superhero image (Warhol and Ramos); revisiting the Surreal figure (Tyson, Dingle, Quinn, Gormley); composite images of fictional characters (Kauper, Yuskavage, Currin, Lijun, Schütte); emotionally charged faces and forms (Flannigan, Gottfried Helnwein); a twisted notion of reality that reflects a dark world view (McLane, Middlebrook); images of the human form moving through time and space (Herring, Nauman); and the spirit of Neo-expressionism (Clemente, Brown).

Helnwein was deeply influenced by the Holocaust, as well as by popular cultural references like comics and rock music. His imagery is unsettling, dark, and deeply compelling, carrying powerful messages of political disturbance and social unease.

"Finally we are living now in a society that is a combination of what Huxley foresaw in his "Brave new World" and Orwell in his "1984". We are caught in a stream of constant propaganda and we are under total surveillance. This is the Age of materialism, consumerism and decadence. Our heroes are idiots like trash-princess Paris Hilton, in their sad 15 minutes of fame. Children are shooting other children in schools before they kill themselves and in other parts of the world they blow themselves up in the middle of crowds. Doesn't that look like the end of a civilization, the second fall of Rome?"