Gottfried Helnwein, John Lennon, 1994
oil and acrylic on canvas,
courtesy Modernism, San Francisco ...

group show
Gottfried Helnwein, Thomas Struth, Marie-Lo Lafontaine, Nan Goldin, Vanessa Beecroft, Sean Scully and others
Exhibition catalogue:
Catalogue German / English with contributions by Gabriele Bösch,
Christine Frisinghelli, Rainer Igla / Michael Mauracher,
Edelbert Köb, Lois Renner and Eva Schlegel
The exhibition includes around 85 works from the collection's holdings
and several loans, selected by Gabriele Bösch from the perspective of photo/art. Many of the photographic works owned by the collection are now showcased for the first time and put into a traditional painting context,
thereby inviting an exciting discourse between painting and photography.
...

one-man show at the Butler House and large Installations in the medival city center of Kilkenny ...

...

Flimm gewann für Bühne und Kostüme Gottfried Helnwein, der angeblich notorisch Drastik und Provokation sucht, zunächst aber ein ingeniöser Bildmacher ist, -ein Maler, Grafiker und Fotograf.
Das verbindet ihn mit William Hogarth, dem englischen Kupferstecher, dessen Bilderzyklen Strawinsky zur Oper inspirierten. Doch 250 Jahre später setzt Helnwein nicht bei Hogarth und seiner realistisch genauen Darstellung der Londoner Casinos, Lusthöllen und Irrenhäuser an.
Helnwein arrangiert eine magische Zeitlosigkeit durch präzise Rekostruktion konkreter Stile
und zugleich fantasiegeborener Kreationen. Selten erlebte man die plastische Wirkungskraft von Kostümen so intensiv wie in Helnweins schiefem, nach rechts sich neigendem Kubusraum, in den zur Linken drei Türen eingelassen sind und dessen hellweisse Flächen immer wieder Bildprojektionen dienen,
Kostüme und Bilder sind von ausgesuchtem Antipsychologismus, von entwaffnend stereotyper Symbolik, so wie Audens und Kallmans Text, wie Strawinskys Musik.
(Stuttgarter Zeitung, 16. Juni 2001) ...

Fall of the Angels.
It's a slow fall. Its actually a fall in extreme slow motion. Its so slow that the motion seems frozen, like a glacier that's constantly flowing and moving, though not perceptible to our eyes, because for us, who live short and fast, glaciers appear to be static and eternal.
That former angel seems to be suspended between hell and heaven, It has not hit the bottom yet - and it probably never will - but it's getting closer ....constantly.

Gottfried Helnwein

...

...

Over 30 playful but nightmare-inducing works (including a mutilated Rug Rat by Heidi Zumbrum and a monstrous Mickey by Gottfried Helnwein) drawn from the collection of L.A. contemporary art patrons Kent and Vicki Logan. Other artists are David Levinthal, Laurie Simmons, Yoshitomo Nara and Hung Tung-Lu.
Curator: Heather Whitmore Jain, SFMOMA.
Catalogue: 44 pp., with essay by Jain and an interview of the Logans by Janet Bishop, SFMOMA. ...

"In Gottfried Helnweins porträthaftem Fotobild, das auf einem Gemälde basiert, betet ein kleiner Junge zu seinem Gott, und wer intensiv hinschaut, entdeckt plötzlich, dass die Hände des Jungen aus diletantisch gefertigten Protesen bestehen, Wie eine optische Mine ist der Schock im anheimelnden Kitschbild verborgen.
Helnwein ist ein Meister in der Entlarvung von verlogener Bildrethorik."
Gabriele Honnef-Harling
-
Mit mehr als 170 000 Besuchern war die Ausstellung
"Der (im-)perfekte Mensch"
die bestbesuchte Sonderausstellung des Deutschen Hygienemuseums Dresden seit 1990.
Hygiene-Museum, Dresden - 20, 12. 2000 - 12. 8. 2001
Martin Gropius-Bau, Berlin - 16. 3. - 2. 6. 2002
Kunsthalle, Villa Kobe, Halle, (Saale) - 28. 2. - 14. 4. 2002 ...

2001

exhibition-catalogue
Albertina, Wien - 10. 10. 2000 - 18. 10. 2000
Galerie Suppan, Wien - 23.10. - 25.11. 2000
Museum für Bildende Kunst, Budapest - 25.1. bis 7.3.2001 ...

...

Sept. 1-Jan. 2, 2001
Over 30 playful but nightmare-inducing works (including a mutilated Rug Rat by Heidi Zumbrum and a monstrous Mickey by Gottfried Helnwein) drawn from the collection of L.A. contemporary art patrons Kent and Vicki Logan. Other artists are David Levinthal, Laurie Simmons, Yoshitomo Nara and Hung Tung-Lu.
Curator: Heather Whitmore Jain, SFMOMA.
Catalogue: 44 pp., with essay by Jain and an interview of the Logans by Janet Bishop, SFMOMA.

Helnwein's 'Mickey' , 1995, oil and acrylic on canvas, 83" x 122" ,
Vicki and Kent Logan Collection,
in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. ...

(excerpt) Other works in the exhibition present the dark side of cartoon characters. The prevailing narrative structure of many cartoons is a cycle of one's character's unrelenting attacks on another. Yet the violence of these scenarios is subverted and humor achieved by the lack of any permanent injury to the victim and the gleeful nonchalance of the adversary even during the most aggressive assault. Static representations of wounded or menacing cartoon characters can expose the violence and eliminate the humorous punch line. In Gottfried Helnwein's painting Mickey (plate 24), Mickey Mouse's physical features, which usually contribute to his appeal become a thin veneer of looming attack. Blown up to a monster scale and rendered in an austere gray palette, Mickey's smile is deceptive. ...

Catalogue:
Helnwein
Robert Sandelson Gallery. London
Text by Robert Flynn Johnson,
Curator in Charge,
Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco ...

catalogue
Antico Monastero
di Santa Chiara

"E’ sicuramente importante dimostrare, per la prima volta nell’Europa Occidentale, la comune fede in un unico Signore risorto"
Mons. Michel Berger ...

group show ...

Historian Peter Selz has compared Gottfried Helnwein's tortured, screaming, and bandaged self-portraits to Messerschmidt's sculptural self-portraits,
but the artist has said, " The reason why I took up the subject of self-portraits and why I have put myself on stage was to function as a kind of representative.
There is nothing autobiographical, no therapy, and it says nothing about me personally.
I am always available as a model." ... ...