Gottfried Helnwein
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Gottfried Helnwein (born October 8, 1948 in Vienna) is an Austrian-Irish fine artist, photographer, and performance artist.
- It is the function of the artist to evoke the experience of surprised recognition: to show the viewer what he knows but does not know that he knows.Helnwein is a master of surprised recognition. - William Burroughs
Helnwein studied at the University of Visual Art in Vienna (Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Wien). He was awarded the Master-class prize (Meisterschulpreis) of the University of Visual Art, Vienna, the Kardinal-König prize and the Theodor-Körner prize.
His early work consists mainly of hyper-realistic watercolors, depicting wounded children, as well as performances - often with children - in public spaces. Helnwein is a conceptual artist, concerned primarily with psychological and sociological anxiety, historical issues and political topics. As a result of this, his work is often considered provocative and controversial. He has worked as a painter, draftsman, photographer, muralist, sculptor and performance artist, using a wide variety of techniques and media. Helnwein is also known for his stage and costume designs of theater, ballet and opera productions. amongst them Staatsoper Hamburg, Volksbühne Berlin and Los Angeles Opera.
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Chronology
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- 1982 Helnwein was offered a chair by the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg, which he declined.
- 1985 Rudolf Hausner, recommended Helnwein as his successor as professor of the master-class for painting at the University of Visual Art in Vienna, but Helnwein leaves Vienna and moves to Germany.
- The film "Helnwein", produced by the German and Austrian National televisions, received the Adolf-Grimme prize for best television-documentary, the Eduard-Rhein prize and the Goldenen Kader award.
- Besides his realistic work, Helnwein also began to develop abstract, expressive styles of painting during this period.
- 1988, In remembrance of "Kristallnacht", the actual beginning of the Holocaust - 50 years earlier, Helnwein erected a 100 meter long installation in the city center of Cologne, between Ludwig Museum and the Cologne Cathedral.
Since then large scale installations in public spaces became an important part of his work.
- 1990 Helnwein began to focus on digital photography and computer-generated images which he often combines with classical oil-painting technics.
- 1994 Stage design, costumes, and make-up for Macbeth, a production of Hans Kresnik's Choreographic Theatre at Volksbühne Berlin. The play was awarded the Theatre Prize of Berlin.
- 1997 Moved to Ireland.
- In the same year the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg organizes a Helnwein retrospective and publishes a monograph of the artist.
- 2000 The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and other American museums show Helnwein's work.
- 2001 Stage and costume design for the Hamburgische Staatsoper of Igor Stravinsky’s opera "The Rake's Progress".
- 2002 He established a studio in Los Angeles.
- Premiere of the Helnwein documentary Neunter November Nacht (Ninth November Night) at the Museum of Tolerance, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Los Angeles. *Collaboration with Marilyn Manson on the multi-media project "The Golden Age of Grotesque". Also video and film projects with Sean Penn.
- 2004 "The Child" one-man show at the San Francisco Fine Arts Museum.
- Collaboration with Maximilian Schell for the Richard Strauss opera "Der Rosenkavalier” at the Los Angeles Opera.
- Helnwein receives the Irish citizenship.
- 2005 Helnwein retrospective at the National Art Museum in Beijing.
Gottfried Helnwein currently lives and works in Ireland and Los Angeles.
Quote
I learned more from Donald Duck than from all the schools I ever attended.
Selected publications:
The Child, Works by Gottfried Helnwein
One man exhibition 2004
San Francisco Fine Arts Museums
Robert Flynn Johnson, Harry S. Parker
(ISBN 0-88401-112-7)
Helnwein, Monograph
Gottfried Helnwein, Retrospective 1997
State Russian Museum St. Petersburg
Alexander Borovsky, Curator for Contemporary Art
Klaus Honnef, Peter Selz, William Burroughs,
Heiner Müller, H.C. Artmann.
(ISBN 3-930775-31-X)
Koenemann, 1999 (ISBN 3829014481)
Helnwein - Ninth November Night, 2003
The Documentary
Museum of Tolerance, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Los Angeles
Johnathon Keats, Simon Wiesenthal
External links
- Official website
- www.helnwein.net
- Helnwein and the comic culture
- Honnef, University Heidelberg
- Helnwein's art referring to the Holocaust
- www.helnwein-museum.com
- Helnwein's work for the stage