...

Austrian born artist Gottfried Helnwein so often finds himself in the eye of the storm, it must feel like home. He is known for highly charged paintings and photographs of suffering children, Nazi themes, and then also magnificent bucolic landscapes. His fans outnumber his detractors, though, and he has won many admirers and collectors both in his adoptive home of Los Angeles, and around the world. Among them, California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenneger, actor Sean Penn, and musician Marilyn Manson, who is a frequent subject.
He identifies strongly with the oppressed, and society's most vulnerable members: children. "When I see how kids grow up , how they are neglected and mistreated , how they get polluted with drugs, junk food, insane television and bad schools, it's terrible, - and dangerous, because they are our future. Children are sacred - we need to protect, support and encourage them." ...

After further examining his work on my computer, I left . . . heart racing several beats faster, fingers tingling. Helnwein reminded me how to feel. It was like the first time I saw a Fellini film or slipped into Tom Ford attire. There was a sense of confidence instilled, a confidence in being human, the confidence to find power through mistake, the confidence to admit to cease yearning for perfection. Rather, redefining perfection to the state of recognizing my humanity, my possibility. ...

PHANTASMAGORIA - The Visions Of Lewis Carroll ...

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He was 64. The playwright died Friday after a long struggle with heart troubles. Bauer's 1968 theater piece "Magic Afternoon," is seen as a masterwork in contemporary Austrian drama. Among his numerous works were a novel and scripts for television and radio.
Wolfgang Bauer: "...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." ...

심히 불편한 사진
도대체 이 사진 작가는 어떻게 접하게 되었을까나?
기억이 잘 안난다.
필시 한창 사진에 대해 끄적끄적일 때,무슨 책에서 본 것 같다.
그리고는 인터넷에서 뒤지다가 그의 공식 홈페이지에 가보게 된 것 일테고. 공식 홈페이지
또한 거기서 독일의 음산한 음악을 하는 밴드인 '램스타인'의 앨범 표지 사진을 이 사람이 한 사실을 알게 되었다.
바로 이 사진들이다. 흠..뭔가 섬뜩하지 않는가?
밴드 음악 성격이랑 딱 부합하는 그런 사진들이다. ...

Group show ...

What dominates, however, in a manner I've seldom seen is Helnwein's use of color -- the monochromatic blue of Act 1 even extends to skin color. Herr von Faninal's house is bathed in a rich golden sheen, from the orange glow of Ochs' silly wig to the platinum of the lovely Sophie's almost-there dress. The final act, in a cheap restaurant, is mainly a glaring red, again from Ochs' wig to his skin and the costumes of the huge band of players. The walls of the restaurant are, incidentally, lined with Helnwein's own works, mainly huge photo-realistic portraits of contemporary women. The 200 costumes Helnwein designed for the piece deserve a whole review for themselves this is inventiveness gone wild, a genius concept, and a huge addition to the production. There might be purists in disagreement here, but this would seem to be a "Rosenkavalier" for the ages. ...

Motive wie diese schockieren in der Ausstellung "Beautiful Children". Sei es durch die drastische Darstellung des herrschenden und beherrschten Menschen, durch die Demontage herkömmlicher und gefälliger Bildwelten. "Oder liegt die Ursache für die schockhafte Reaktion nicht im Betrachter selbst?" fragte Dr. Antje Vollmer, Vizepräsidentin des Deutschen Bundestages, die anlässlich der Ausstellungseröffnung am 19. Juni im Schloss Oberhausen sprach. Doch sie war nicht ausschließlich als Politikerin ins Ruhrgebiet gekommen, sondern sprach auch als gute Freundin des Künstlers, den sie vor 20 Jahren kennenlernte. Und so gratulierte sie nicht nur den Ausstellungsmachern, Helnweins Werk in einer so umfangreichen Schau endlich wieder nach Deutschland geholt zu haben. Dr. Vollmer lobte auch das Politische im Schaffen Helnweins, das nicht durch große Reden sondern allein durch das Ausstellen seiner Bilder erzeugt wird. ...