2000 The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art presented Helnwein's painting "Mouse I" (1995, oil and acrylic on canvas, 210 cm x 310 cm) at the exhibition The Darker Side of Playland: Childhood Imagery from the Logan Collection...
Alicia Miller commented on Helnwein's work in Artweek: "...For children, not understanding what really to be afraid of, these dreams portend some pain and disturbance lurking into the landscape. Perhaps nothing in the exhibition exemplifies this better than Gottfried Helnwein's 'Mickey'. His portrait of Disney's favorite mouse occupies an entire wall of the gallery; rendered from an oblique angle, his jaunty, ingenuous visage looks somehow sneaky and suspicious. His broad smile, encasing a row of gleaming teeth, seems more a snarl or leer. This is Mickey as Mr. Hyde, his hidden other self now disturbingly revealed. ...

One-man show at Robert Sandelson Gallery, London..
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Inspired by the serene nature that sorrounds his new home in Ireland, Helnwein starts to paint landscapes..
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Sir James R. Mancham, president of the republic of Seychelles, visits Helnwein in Ireland and stays at his castle.

"The American paintings", Helnwein works on a series of blue monochromatic paintings, a surreal vision of America inspired by film noir and newspaper-photography from the 50ies and 60ies.
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Inspired by Helnwein's early paintings, Argentinian writer Rodrigo M. Malmsten creates the play "Kleines Helnwein".
Premiere at the Theatro San Martin in Buenos Aires

The Ludwig Museum Cologne shows Helnwein's Installation "Poems" in the exhibition "Augenblick und Endlichkeit - Das von der Photographie geprägte Jahrhundert.
40 great photographers of the 20th century. ...

Gottfried at the Ludwig Museum, Cologne, "Augenblick und Endlichkeit"

Los Angeles County Museum of Art , "Ghost in the Shell", Photography and the Human Soul, 1850-2000, group show.
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Gottfried Helnwein at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art , "Ghost in the Shell"

1999 "Apokalypse", one man show and Installation at the Gothic Dominican-Church in Krems, Austria.
County Museum of Lower Austria ...

Austrian playwright Wolfgang Bauer recalls in his essay "Inspired by Helnwein" for the catalogue of the "Apokalypse" exhibition:.
"As long ago as 1963 a fellow-artist and I imagined the horrible future of a free-lance artist. The topic of our discussion was not so much finances as the necessity of letting go and totally abandoning oneself. At the time I had the idea of inventing something like a 'fitness training of geniuses'. In retrospect I must say that I know very few artists who have persevered in this imaginary training programme. Gottfried Helnwein is one of them." ...

The New York Times reviews the exhibition "Choice" at Exit Art in New York: "According to the theory that to find good young artists you should ask older artists what they think, Exit Art has organized this show: 24 artists, most of them novices to the scene, were picked by 13 artists. The international selectors included Damien Hirst, Sam Taylor-Wood, Nari Ward, Gottfried Helnwein, Ronald Jones, Cindy Sherman and Kiki Smith.
The results aren't bad. Among what's notable are Iris Andraschek's creepy fish-tank concoctions, picked by Gottfried Helnwein... ...

Helnwein meets Cindy Sherman in New York.

"20 Years Modernism, Modern Masters and Contemporary Art", Modernism Gallery San Francisco.

Innovation / Imagination: 50 years of Polaroid Photography,Anselm Adams Center, San Francisco.

Photo session with Chuck Close in New York.