Sam Beckett, Andre Gide, Albert Camus, and Gore Vidal. I collect contemporary art, mostly representational works on paper. Some of my favorite artists are Richard Serra, Francis Bacon, Gottfried Helnwein, and Gerhard Ricther. ...

The highlight of the trip for me was going to Gottfried Helnwein's studio- Kevin has been drawing Gottfried's daughter, Mercedes Helnwein (her art is great, as well)- and she invited us to her dad's studio event. Mr. Helnwein had just designed the set and costumes for a big opera in Los Angeles, and the Opera put on this event at his studio- it was pretty crazy. The artist's wet dream- THE studio visit, for sure. We walked into the space- there were opera singers performing, pretty rich people abound and Helwein's enormous paintings EVERYWHERE!!! ...

Marie Antoinette, for example, was obsessed with the idea of pretending to be a simple innocent peasant girl. Her husband built her an entire life-sized fantasy farmhouse and mill with sheep, shepherds and all - and an idealistic landscape shaped around it. Dressed in theatrical shepherdess attire, she could now play "innocent country folk" with her girlfriends. ...

In Richard Strauss' opera, aging aristocrat Marschallin beds the young Octavian. But Octavian's a mezzo-soprano, played by a lady in what opera calls a "trouser role." Helnwein just took the trousers out. In the ad, the women's expressions are tender and their lips mere millimeters apart.
Helnwein isn't surprised by the scuttlebutt in the normally staid opera world.
"I'm used to it," Helnwein said. "It always happens with my work. I don't intend it really, but it happens. I think it has to do with the fact that middle class people usually don't want anything to change. If it could, everything would freeze and stay the same way forever. But artists are very annoying, disturbing guys. They always want to change and mess something up. ...

Marilyn Manson se retrouve en couverture du catalogue "Beautiful Children", réunissant les oeuvres de Gottfried Helnwein ... ...

"It was such a great pleasure showing all members of the cast Helnwein's incredible paintings. The girl who plays the "girl in the pit" was particularly impressed by the girl on the cover."
Nava Semel ...

...There is of course the delicious irony in the third act when we have a female playing a male turns around and portrays a female! Even more ironic, the love interests in the opera could hardly be more heterosexual. Besides the fact that the Marschallin and Ochs are cousins, they also enjoy a passion for much younger members of the opposite sex!
I believe this almost fairy tale opera—a Viennese masquerade if you will—has been besmirched by this ad’s misleading dissemblance. The ad credits Gottfried Helnwein for artwork. I see he is also listed as a production manager. I hope you will show him a copy of this letter.
I will see Der Rosenkavalier—my favorite opera—next month, but I will approach it with trepidation. In Gottes Namen, what have you done to this beloved opera? ...

Gespräche zur Ausstellung im W.-Busch-Museum
Noch bis zum 12. Juni 2005 zeigt das Wilhelm-Busch-Museum im Georgengarten die Ausstellung »Gottfried Helnwein: Beautiful Children«. Im Rahmenprogramm finden folgende Gespräche zur Ausstellung im Wilhelm-Busch-Museum statt:
Dienstag, 3. Mai, 18.00 Uhr
Landesbischöfin Dr. Margot Käßmann und
Dr. Ralph Ludwig, Redaktion Religion und Gesellschaft, Landesfunkhaus Niedersachsen des NDR
Donnerstag, 19. Mai, 18 Uhr
Wilfried Schulz, Schauspiel-Intendant des Niedersächsischen Staatstheaters ...

Het desktop-spel ...

During Monday’s first “Rosenkavalier” rehearsal with director Max Schell, Edgar Baitzel artistic director assured me a production by the L.A. Opera would always be “of the highest taste,” but the ad by production designer Gottfried Helnwein would give potential audiences “something to think about.” ...