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." ...

„Beautiful Children“ lautet eine umfassende Ausstellung über den 57-jährigen Wiener Maler Gottfried Helnwein, der seit den 90er Jahren in Irland lebt und auch in Los Angeles ein Atelier hat. Seit seiner Frühzeit setzt sich Helnwein, dessen Stil wie ein überscharfer Fotorealismus wirkt, der seinen Bildern eine halluzinatorisch-transzendente Wirkung verleiht, mit dem Thema Kind auseinander. Es erscheint oft verstümmelt, mangelnde Bewältigung der NS-Vergangenheit ist der Urgrund. Aber auch bei scheinbar „schönen“ Bildern (Landschaften, Porträts) lauert etwas Abgründiges. ...

Plakatmotiv: Gottfried Helnwein (Lulu) ...

Austrian born Gottfried Helnwein is no stranger to controversy, even outright animosity, but he embraces it as the price of being an artist, and he will go wherever the muse takes him. ...

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." ...

She loved to entertain and frequently opened her home to host international artists, including Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein and Spanish-Argentine mezzo soprano Marisa Martins. "She was the most wonderful light for all of us," said painter Ira Yeager. "It's such a loss -- for both the valley and the city."
Martin Muller, owner of Modernism Gallery in San Francisco and the American dealer for Gottfried Helnwein, said she was "one of the rare, truly genuine, creative souls who happened to be a part of high society. She was nurturing to artists, notably Gottfried. She was always bringing creative people together. Erika was a bohemian with sparkle." ...

Von ihrem eingeschlagenen Weg will Rollig dennoch nicht abrücken: "Ich bleibe bei zeitgenössischer Kunst." Publikumsrenner wie die Ausstellungen mit Werken von Marc Chagall oder Henri Toulouse- Lautrec, noch unter Rolligs Vorgänger Peter Baum, wird es demnach auch künftig nicht geben: "Schon weil nicht viele Künstler so ziehen wie ein Chagall", wie Rollig meint. So habe sie kürzlich in Köln, wo sie wegen einer für 2007 im Lentos geplanten Schau mit Werken des deutschen Expressionisten Max Beckmann (1884-1950) verhandelte, die Erfahrung gemacht, dass "selbst bekannte Namen wie dieser gar nicht so gut gehen." - Rollig: "Man kann auch mit der zeitgenössischen Schiene viele Besucher erreichen" -die von März bis Juni 2006 geplante Schau mit Pop-Art von Gottfried Helnwein soll's beweisen. ...

The story of Mercedes began in a hospital in Vienna, Austria, somewhere at the end of 1979. Thanks to her parents, life never threatened to become very normal. Her father, Gottfried Helnwein, had long before her birth already established his name in the fine art scene, and not without controversy.
At her inception, Mercedes’ favorite color was pink, her favorite food spaghetti and her favorite animal was the rhino from the Viennese zoo with the severe mood swings. She loved to watch it charge at the visitors. Her best friend at the time was Rudy, a one-legged art student with long black hair and beard, who was living in the children’s room and doubled as nanny occasionally. Rudy and Mercedes would have long conversations about ballet and take walks through the park. Many a morning he would wake up to find his leg somewhere at the other end of the apartment. He resembled Jesus physically and had a fondness for strong language. He had been an Olympic high jumper for Austria, but after a bad accident and a less than perfect job at the hospital, he lost his leg and became an artist. ...

Gottfried Helnwein
10.03.2006-12.06.2006 - Ausstellung
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09.03.2006 - Vernissage ...

Mag in der Insistenz und Extensität der Produktion Rainers Werk herausragen, die Abwendung von der Anthropologie, die als Negation doch auch mit ihr verknüpft ist, durchzieht die Kunst seit der Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Zum Bestand der kanonisierten Kunst gehören mittlerweile die fotografisch dokumentierten Body-Perfomances der 60er und 70er Jahre (z.B. Bruce Naumann, Jürgen Klauke, Klaus Rinke), die Selbstporträts Gottfried Helnweins der 70er und 80er Jahre, die Video-Dummies von Tony Oursler. ...

Along with direction by cinema great Maximilian Schell, this original go at Richard Strauss’ opera of the young rose-bearer was designed by Viennese visual virtuoso Gottfried Helnwein. The team has created a surrealist environment undefined by any specific time or place. Visually, characters range from over the top froo-froo to contemporary, with nightmarish interpretations of Venetian masqueraders and creeping minions of the lecherous Lerchenau in between. Each act is bathed in its own primary color suited to the general feeling as if you’re watching through a giant mood ring. ...

* Gottfried Helnwein, artist, born in Vienna, 1948
* Alfred Hrdlicka, sculptor and graphic artist, born in Vienna, 1928
* Friedensreich Hundertwasser, artist, 1928-2000, born in Vienna
* Gustav Klimt, artist, helped found Vienna Secession
* Oskar Kokoschka, painter, 1886-1980, born in Pöchlarn (Lower Austria)
* Inge Morath, photographer
* Hermann Nitsch, artist, painter, born in Vienna, 1938
* Alf Poier, artist and stand-up comedian
* Arnulf Rainer, painter, born 1929
* Egon Schiele, painter, 1890-1918 ...

The LAO's compelling new production of Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier" bears the intriguing vision of Hollywood legend, actor/director Maximilian Schell, and the marvellous designs of Austrian-born, Los Angeles-based visual artist Gottfried Helnwein.
Helnwein's brilliant costumes are also character driven. Sophie's duenna Marianne (soprano Susan Foster) is garbed like a Shakespearean nurse, Sophie is an idealized Helen of Troy, while the schemers Valzacchi and Annina (tenor Anthony Laciura and mezzo-soprano Margaret Thompson) could be straight out of Mozart's "Don Giovanni'. In short a production that clearly needs to be visited again and again to fully reveal its symbolic and metaphoric riches.
Perhaps the greatest glory of this "Der Rosenkavalier" is its visual unpredictability. ...

Born in Vienna in 1948, Gottfried Helnwein has developed a very powerful and idiosyncratic visual vocabulary reflected in his masterful use of multiple media (painting, drawing, photography, performance, and stage design). Helnwein addresses a broad range of social and political issues, resulting in challenging and provocative artworks. Although at times very disturbing, these works are consistently moving, and seek spiritual beauty often approaching the transcendental. ...

Parte de la importante colección Essl llega al Museo de Arte Moderno para exhibir piezas de 18 artistas austriacos y 12 artistas internacionales, en reciprocidad por la muestra Modernismo mexicano presentada en el museo privado Essl Kunstsammlung en Viena.
El accionismo vienés (Günter Brus y Hermann Nitsch); Arnulf Rainer y Antoni Tápies; La pintura vive (Georg Baselitz, Markus Lüpertz, Siegfried Anzinger, Hubert Scheibl, Herbert Brandl, Martin Kippenberger, Franz West), y Aspectos de la figura (Alex Katz, Katrin Plavcak, Muntean/Rosenblum, Jim Dine, Gottfried Helnwein, Maria Lassnig, Elke Krystufek ...

The thing you should know about this "Rosenkavalier" is that it is terrific. Richard Strauss' opera sounds great and looks sensational. It is excellently sung, sumptuously conducted by Kent Nagano and, thanks to Gottfried Helnwein, wondrously strange.
Helnwein — the Austrian artist (painter, photographer, performance artist, filmmaker) who has a studio in downtown L.A. — is known for everything from Marilyn Manson videos to Holocaust installations. He is responsible for the sets, costumes and that ad (which, by the way, looks like an image from a recent staging of a Schumann oratorio that Helnwein designed in Düsseldorf).
Helnwein's vision of "Rosenkavalier" is monochromatic and a riot of color. It is oddly traditional yet seriously odd. It is updated but couldn't be more 18th century. And none of those opposites contradicts. ...

Nun findet sich die Antwort auf die Frage nach dem Verbleib Gottfried Helnweins in massiven Schlagzeilen der “New York Times” und der “Los Angeles Times”. “Ein Aufstand der Farben, exzentrisch, anachronistisch, wundersam”, jubeln die Kalifornier. Die Kollegen von der Ostküste schreiben von “ausserirdischer Faszination und wilder Extravaganz”. Gottfried Helnwein hat an der von Placido Domingo geleiteten Oper von Los Angeles den “Rosenkavalier” von Richard Strauss ausgestattet. Maximilian Schell inszenierte, Kent Nagano dirigierte, und die Premiere zu Wochenbeginn geriet dem alten Fuchs Domingo zum Clou der amerikanischen Opernsaison. Schon in den Überschriften aber wird klargestellt, wer hier der Chef war: Gottfried Helnwein nämlich, geboren in Wien als Sohn eines Postbeamten, Konzeptkünstler, Fotograf, Filmer, unvergleichlich resistent gegen Katalogisierungen. ...

Gottfried Helnwein arouses creative tumult. - Los Angeles Times ...

I would like to draw your attention to what could, without exaggeration, be called the biggest “Austrian Cultural Event” in Los Angeles this season.
For a stunning new production of Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hoffmansthal’s “Der Rosenkavalier”, directed by Maximilian Schell, designed by Gottfried Helnwein, choreographed by Johann Kresnik and starring Kurt Rydl, the L.A Opera relied heavily on Austrian talent in creating a “Gesamtkunstwerk”.
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Generell würde sich das Kunstmuseum gut entwickeln. Kritik an ihrer Person weist Rollig zurück: "Es ist bei allen großen Museen so, dass in der Eröffnungsphase die Massen kommen und nach einer gewissen Zeit ein Knick im Besucherstrom erfolgt."
Der Weg aus der Krise soll 2006 vor allem über eine internationale Architekturausstellung und über Gottfried Helnwein führen, der im Lentos 20 Jahre nach seiner Auswanderung erstmals wieder eine Einzelausstellung präsentieren wird. ...