cover: "Head of a Child 4"
inside: "Head of a Child 5" 2000, oil and acrylic on canvas,
and "Ninth of November Night", 1988, installation at the Museum Ludwig, cologne ...

`The Portrait Obscured,'' the current exhibit at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, where 19 artists have all but forgone the portrait entirely in their pursuit of it.
The exhibit's signature pieces are two paintings by the Austrian painter Gottfried Helnwein.
A bit of perceptual sleight of hand, two seemingly blue-black canvases on close inspection reveal portraits of John Lennon and Bruce Lee.
Portraits obscured, to be sure, and perhaps a meditation on how unknowable are the famous by their famous faces. ...

...or how about odd nerdrum...or gottfried helnwein if you just wanna talk about paint handling these two are far superior...and perhaps being a child of a "ironic culture" has something to do with you liking the paintings...perhaps me being a child of a violent one has something to do with not liking them...
I understand the subjectivity in art but I was hoping we'd stop breeding new "quirku" warhols ...

The common or garden tie doesn't tend to throw up too many fashion conundrums for the casual wearer. The options are pretty simple; classic and understated or loud and hey, wacky!
But not anymore: thanks to London-based fashion terrorists, Cultural Ties, all that is about to change with a range of neckties, featuring specially commissioned work from over 80 contemporary artists. Now the sartorially discerning can choose from pink bunnies (Jeff Koons), naked ladies (Paola Gandolfi), amorphous freaks (Gottfried Helnwein) and satanic messages (David Shrigley) to mention a few.

"Ужас!" - воскликнешь ты, а по мне - так это потомки звезд
М.К. Щербаков
Кому-то Готтфрид Хельнвайн покажется просто ужасным, кому-то любопытным, кому-то отвратительным, кто-то просто офигеет, кому-то очень понравится, но факт заключается в том, что этот график/ художник/ дизайнер не оставит равнодушным никого.
Большинство людей, которым я всучивал в руки альбом Хельнвайна, реагировали остро негативно, мол, это не искусство, он психопат и маньяк недоделанный, это нельзя никому показывать и т.п. Вспомните Босха! Всеми уважаемый художник, классик. Его работы до сих пор используются в декорациях театров, на концертах различных групп, в том числе группами "Depeche Mode", "U2" и т.д. и т.п. А он (Босх) разве не ужас? Пожирание людей, пронзенные струнами арфы спины, отрывания конечностей, уроды и прочее сему подобное... Вот, блин, гуманист-христианин нашелся! Я тоже люблю живопись Босха, возможно это один из самых моих любимых художников, но все же... А Кукрыниксы с их красными носатыми мужиками, которые штыками протыкают черепные коробки Гитлеров? А Дюрер с отсеченными головами и лужами крови? А Караваджо с его бесконечными трупами? (Кстати, один из автопортретов Хельнвайна использовала группа "Scorpions" для оформления обложки своего альбома "Blackout".) ...

...

How can one recount the Holocaust? That is certainly one of the major questions confronting any writer who tries to write on this theme. How is one to transform the horrific and inconceivable reality into fiction? How can one create a feeling of aunthenticity in the reader? How to disturb his emotional world without resorting to sentimental manipulation and how to avoid banality? ...

"Sogar Marlenes Stimme klang einsam"
Am Ende ihres Lebens schloss sich Marlene Dietrich von der Welt aus. Zu den sieben Freunden, die sie in ihrer Pariser Wohnung besuchen durften, gehörten der Maler Gottfried Helnwein und seine Frau Renate. Sie erzählen von ihrer Freundschaft zu der Diva, die am 27. Dezember 100 Jahre alt geworden wäre. ...

Ireland got its first real glimpse into the mind of Gottfried Helnwein in August of this year when he headlined the increasingly high profile Kilkenny Arts Festival. Across the medieval city, familiar landmarks were draped in gigantic posters bearing the Helnwein trademark. Huge freckle-faced Kilkenny children - their eyes closed and vulnerable yet possessed of a curious wisdom - occupied the walls from St Canice's Cathedral to the courtyard of Kilkenny castle. Dominating the Castle entrance was a massive print entitled "Epiphany", depicting a voluptuous mother proudly displaying her naked young boy to a gathering of sharp-dressed officers. It is only when one registers the swastikas and iron crosses on the officers' uniforms that one looks again at this toddler and beholds the unmistakeable mug of Adolf Hitler Junior. This was a bold statement by Gottfried in which he was effectively drawing a comparison between the iconoclastic and suppressive nature of the Nazi system and the more disturbing tenets of Roman Catholicism. ...

Q:How can you explain the artistic cruelty of your cover art works? Why is there so much pain and suffering on them? Where is the border between art and cruelty?
.
A:We like to arise controversies and that is why already on the second album we decided to choose the photographs of Helnwein for our cover artwork. We really like his attitude towards art and the way he showed us. It turned out that a band picture can be something different, a real art, and not just another common, boring shot of a few people. ...