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An der Oper von Tel Aviv probt man für eine Uraufführung, die auch so etwas wie eine Sternstunde für das Kulturleben in Israel ist. "Das Kind träumt" heißt das Werk, durch das sich für Gottfried Helnwein eine künstlerische Seelenverwandtschaft mit dem Autor Hanoch Levin offenbart hat, "weil dieses Stück für mich subjektiv zumindest genau das ist, was ich mit meinen Bildern immer ausdrücken wollte", sagt Helnwein. "Hanoch Levin ist eigentlich eine große Entdeckung für mich, weil er einer der besten Dramatiker ist, die ich je gesehen habe. Und die Bilder, die er heraufbeschwört, sind so brutal und erschütternd. Und für mich war das so etwas wie Epiphanie - ich hab das gelesen und gedacht, im Prinzip beschreibt er meine Bilder." ...

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 ...

Sono disparati i motivi che possono indurre a visitare la splendida e misterica capitale ceca, non ultimo i numerosi eventi commemorativi per i cinquant’anni decorsi dai tragici eventi della Primavera di Praga, ma le sale della galleria d’arte moderna del Rudolfinum, l’edificio in stile neorinascimentale che affaccia sulle acque della Moldava, diventa sino al termine di agosto meta d’obbligo per tutti gli amanti delle mostre epocali. Vi si tiene infatti un’esauriente retrospettiva dedicata al controverso artista austriaco Gottried Helnwein, dall’evocativo titolo Angels sleeeping: un percorso che si snoda in cinque sezioni rappresentative di altrettanti periodi della produzione del pittore, fotografo e performer. ...

HELNWEIN: "LA is a strange place. A few blocks from my studio the streets are filled with thousands of homeless people, huddling on sidewalks or staggering through the streets - and from time to time some lost soul is gesticulating franticly and shouting at invisible enemies. I live and work in the so called “artist district” in downtown Los Angeles - an innocent little island with old warehouses and brick buildings that look like leftovers from a noir movie set, inhabited by artists, photographers, musicians, skinny girls with nice tattoos, freaks and Japanese students from SCI-Arc (The Southern California Institute of Architecture) placed in the former Santa Fe Rail Road freight-depot, a concrete block one-quarter of a mile long.
The heart of the artist district is the Groundworks Cafe in a red-painted building across from the old, run-down American Hotel where Bukowski once wrote the screenplay for Barfly. The air is heavily polluted from all these diesel trucks that blow their unfiltered exhaust gases through their erected chrome-pipes into the air of downtown. When I touch my paintings my hands gets black from the layers of black dust that sets on everything." ...

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

What do Marilyn Manson, Mickey Mouse, violence against children and Nazism have in common? There may be a few ways to answer that question, but Gottfried Helnwein’s exhibition, Angels Sleeping, brings these topics together most powerfully, and might expose a few feelings of anguish you never knew you had.
If you have yet to experience the hyper-realistic paintings of Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein, head to the Galerie Rudolfinum in Prague at once. The art on offer spans his work from the 1970s up to the present day, split into five key sections that explore his most common themes of psychological and sociological suffering, with paintings so realistic you’ll question your own eyes. ...

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. ...

戈特弗里德-郝文Gottfried Helnwein 出生于维也纳。1969年到1973年在维也纳的the Academy of Fine Arts学习绘画。他吸收了日常生活中比如漫画、广告、电影的美学元素，在这段时间创作了部分超现实主义画作。而这些早期的画作很清楚的表明了他的艺术观，他所想要表达的东西。缠着绷带的孩子，幼稚儿童脸上的撕裂之后再次缝合的伤口。如同爬虫类一样冰冷而无机质毫不感觉痛楚的眼神。画者那种权威而细致的表现伤害的冷静让当时的大众无法接受。 ...

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. ...

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. ...

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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. ...

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.” ...

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. ...

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. ...

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. ...

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. ...

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. ...

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. ...