Helnwein ...was born in war-torn Vienna in 1948 and received a classical education under Rudolf Hausner at Vienna’s academy. But in the late 1960’s, he and fellow art students rebelled, staging Aktions or happenings within the Vienna Academy and out in the streets. In one, Helnwein stood quietly for hours with an enormous three-foot papier mache sculpture of a hornet clinging to his back.
In 1971 he began the first of a series of troubling pictures showing children grotesquely disfigured with surgical scars. ...

Table ronde à al Volksbühne sur le sujet "violence, Antiquité, sexualité" avec (de g. à dr.) Hans Neuenfells, Hainer Müller (penché en avant), Ernest Bornemann et Gottfried Helnwein (1986)
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Those who have used the same or multiple forms of the image many times over many years include Lichtenstein, Helnwein, Oldenburg, Pensato, Ospina, and Chagoya. Some have used the image more persistently than others have.
Most of the images are straightforward, but some are not. For example, Christian Boltanski installed photographs of children, who were members (fans) of the 1955 French Mickey Mouse Club (ills. 9.1, 9.2 and 9.3). Rhonda Zwillinger (ill. 76.1) incorporated the castle at Disneyland into one of her paintings. Burt Payne 3 and Steve Hillenburg (ill. 32.1) used the image of Walt Disney himself in a small plastic sculpture: Walt Disney with mouse ears encased in clear plastic—the frozen Walt doll.[10] Some of these artists have produced a significant body of work based on the Mouse. ...

Alle Beteiligten gingen mit Akribie an die Arbeit. Sie verbanden, unter der Leitung von GMD John Fiore, die wunderbare Musik Robert Schumanns mit einer von Gregor Seyffert und Gottfried Helnwein großartigen szenischen Umsetzung des Textes von Thomas Moore. In fünf Aufführungen fanden sich mehr als 6.000 begeisterte Zuhörer und Zuschauer in der Tonhalle ein. Den Beifall des Publikums konnte man an jedem Abend „frenetisch“ nennen.

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Burroughs on photographer Gottfried Helnwein
"How can a self-portrait depict statuesque calm in the face of the horrors that surround us all?" ...

The films themselves range from documents of performances to highly structured experimental films. The Art of Destruction concerns the main protagonists of the movement and their own particular brands of performance/art/terrorism as well as a discussion of the major films and their influences. Each member is given space for biography (and there are some bizarre backgrounds to be sure) and key performances, all amply illustrated in disturbing black and white. Rather than just a catalogue of broken taboos the VAG are seen as natural extensions of both Dadaism and the "Happening" scene of the '50s, but one distinctly Austrian in the way that it rebelled against a harshly censorious government whom the performers saw as intrinsically unrepentant of its recent fascist past. This adds greater weight to the performances than perhaps the later New York transgressive movement, and their influence can be seen in everything from Helnwein paintings to mainstream Marilyn Manson videos. ...

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Inszenierung, Choreografie: Gregor Seyffert
Bühne, Video, Licht, Kostüme und Maske: und Gottfried Helnwein
Dichtung aus "Lalla Rookh" von Thomas Moore
für Solostimmen, Chor und Orchester ...

Je vous invite à parcourir les images, cheminements flashés de mon art, expériences visuelles vécues à l'extrème dans une société qui oublie souvent que derrière ses barrières modérées, se cachent des blessures et émotions mais qu'elle refoule, et qui sont souvent taboues. Rejoignant les aspirations d'artistes tels que Arnulf Rainer, autres Aktionnistes Viennois, jusqu'à Gottfried Helnwein, mais aussi Antonin Artaud, etc ... je cherche à retrouver l'identité archaïque de l'humain à-travers sa tragédie de la mort et de la naissance, ses processus de transformations dans la vie. Les travaux d'art exposés dans mon site , ne sont pas tous issus de mon expérience "N.D.E", peut-être que certains en sont plus ou moins imprégnés et je pense que la page de mes masques de morts, sont ici plus emprunts de cette expérience, [voir "The mortuary"] .... ...

Es gibt gewichtige Gründe, um Helnwein als den legitimen Erben Beuys und Warhols zu bezeichnen. Einerseits folgt er in seinen Werken rituellen Mustern, andererseits spielt er mit einer Reihe von künstlerischen Variationen. Er untergräbt die Magie der Bilderwelt, indem er einen Störfaktor einbaut, durch den ein Schock im Verhältnis zwischen dem Kunstwerk und dem Betrachter entsteht. Helnwein vermischt Altes mit Neuem, und sein Stil spiegelt den Beginn der Moderne, aber auch die Welt des Cyberspace wieder. Einen großen Einfluss hat das Wien der sechziger Jahre auf ihn. Auch wird er von der Welt des Comics inspiriert. Helnwein besuchte die 'Höhere Graphische Bundeslehr- und Versuchsanstalt'. Um gegen die tägliche Routine des Klassenzimmers zu protestieren, schnitt er sich mit einer Rasierklinge die Hände auf. Durch diesem Vorfall wurde ihm bewußt, wie hilflos die Gesellschaft auf körperliche Ungerechtigkeit und auf Verletzungen reagiert. Nach dem Abschluss an der 'Graphischen' besuchte er die Wiener Akademie der Künste. Zu dieser Zeit tauchte auch zum ersten mal eines seiner Leitmotive auf: Kinder. Durch das Malen von verletzten Kindern verursachte Helnwein eine Art Schock, und brachte somit den 'Horror' zurück in die Kunst. Damit zeigte er offen den Zynismus einer Gesellschaft, die nicht mehr die Dinge so sieht, wie sie sind, dessen Sichtweise aber durch 'Bilder über Dinge' geprägt ist. ...

Contrary to what his critics may believe, Manson in no way supports Hitler or Nazism. Not only is it "impossible to be fascist when you're into fashion," but the very nature of Hitler's rise to power sounded a death knell to the very art movements that Manson was inspired by. The final track on The Golden Age of Grotesque, Obsequey (the Death of Art) and the painting by the same name, demonstrates how fervidly anti-Hitler Manson really is. The painting shows the dome of Berlin burning, a direct result of Hitler becoming chancellor. According to Manson in an interview with NY Rock, "Hitler tried to define art and outlawed some of it by calling it degenerated and decadent. Hitler imposed his will and banned art he considered immoral. I'm not sure if the people who adopt those phrases and try to ban my art are aware of the implications they carry."
Interestingly enough, when the same outfit was used in the mOBSCENE video, the insignia was missing. Of course, the time period for that song was exclusively Weimar Berlin, before the Nazi takeover. The outfit was also similar to that worn by Marlene Dietrich in the film Seven Sinners
Helnwein's 'Album Covers that Never Were'
... Some of Manson's other wardrobe is reminiscent of Nazi dress as well. In the series, Album Covers that Never Were, (Manson's record company deemed the photographs too risque to be used for the cover) in which Manson collaborated with Gottfried Helnwein, he wore a typical Nazi officer's cap. The same outfit was used when Manson posed for the cover of Metal Hammer. He dressed in Nazi regalia, clutching a gun as a young girl looked on. His expression, however, again shows exactly how he feels about the Nazi movement. ...

The following suicide notes were left by Japanese schoolchildren, aged ten to fifteen, who killed themselves within the last several years. Some of them met in suicide chat rooms, which are becoming increasingly popular in Japan.
translated from the Japanese by Patrick Luhan. ...

In fact, his work is insistently open-ended. Like Goya's Disasters of War, his art queries time and again, "How can this have happened?" Sometimes viewers reply, assaulting pictures of innocent children, worshipping those of a murderous dictator. Yet such reactions can only bring us to inquire again, louder and with greater urgency, "How can this have happened?" At last we recognize that Helnwein asks questions not in order to solicit answers - hate has no reason - but rather in order that we might begin to pose our own. ...

Gottfried Helnwein - Selbstportrait, 1983.
Stanley Kubrick - 2001, A Space Odyssey, USA 1968; Intro
Barnett Newman - Here III, 1965/66, Broken Obelisk, 1967
Thomas Gainsborough - Plauderei im Park, ca. 1746,
Jean-Honoré Fragonard - Die Schaukel, 1767,
Caspar David Friedrich - Der Mönch am Meer, 1808-10, Öl/Lw, Das Eismeer, 1823-24
Karl Friedrich Schinckel - Felsentor, 1818,
J.M. William Turner - Eine Lawine in Graubünden, 1810 ...

"Well, the world is a haunted house, and Helnwein at times is our tour guide through it.
I think in anything that is really relevant and emotional art, there is some kind of a mirror that people experience. I don't think that you can recognize a feeling from something that you look at unless it's part of yourself, and so when someone is willing to take on the sadness, the irony, the ugliness and the beauty in the kind of way that Gottfried Helnwein does.
Not all of Gottfried's work is on a canvas.
A lot of it is the way he's approached life. And it doesn't take someone knowing him to know that. You take one look at the paintings and you say "this guy has been around." You can't sit in a closet - and create this.
This level of work is earned."
Sean Penn ...

* Gottfried Helnwein, artist, born in Vienna, 1948
* Theodor Herzl "founder" of Israel, lived most of his life in Austria
* Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany from 1933-1945, born on April 20, 1889 in Braunau am Inn ...

Helnwein:
"I think art always reflects the society and the time the artist lives in; it always tells you something about the condition of the culture.
This is the age of materialism and profit, accompanied by its favorite all-eating pet – the entertainment industry. Therefore in order not to sink into oblivion, in a desperate struggle to be heard and seen, many artists and curators try to compete with this multi-media-entertainment-Godzilla, trying to be just as loud and cheap and stupid. That’s why 70% to 80% of all the contemporary art in our museums is crap.
It’s true though that each time has its own aesthetic values and if you want to reach the people of today you have to develop an artistic language that they can understand. And that’s what I try to do – my audience is the great love-affair of my life. I am obsessed with my public, and all I want to do with my art is touch them and move them and to hold them tight – and sometimes I want to kick their ass. That is all I care about.
But I also listen to them and take them and their responses serious, because they and other artists are the only ones that ever taught me anything." ...

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Dans mon récit, j’ai l’intention de présenter des œuvres de Gottfried Helnwein dans lesquelles il aborde le sujet du nazisme. Cependant, même si le rapport au nazisme dans l’œuvre d’Helnwein est au cœur de ma propre curiosité, il n’est pas nécessairement au centre du travail de l’artiste. D’après ma compréhension, la référence au thème du nazisme dans l’œuvre d’Helnwein fait partie d’un contexte plus vaste de sa vision du monde, que je vais présenter. Si on ignore la totalité de son œuvre et si on se concentre uniquement sur ces nombreux travaux où il parle du nazisme, on risque d’avoir une vision partielle de plusieurs niveaux d’analyse qui sont inhérents à sa pensée. Je vais traiter non seulement les sujets qu’il a choisis d’aborder, mais aussi le contexte historique de sa création qui est aussi significatif en regard de ses choix. Pour des raisons de clarté et afin de mettre en relief mon intérêt personnel pour la représentation controversée du nazisme dans l’art contemporain, je vais traiter séparément les œuvres au sujet du nazisme, sans ignorer naturellement le contexte de leur création. ...

Si on essaie de comprendre la démarche artistique et critique d’Helnwein, il est nécessaire de prendre en considération ses autoportraits. Les autoportraits sont partis intégrale de sa carrière depuis le début, et forment une clé importante pour déchiffrer de son œuvre.
“ L’artiste et son art ne font qu’un dans l’autoportrait. Ils s’expliquent, ils se répondent ”, comme l’a écrit Philippe Dagen. Si on ignore les nombreux autoportraits de Helnwein, on risque de laisser passer inaperçus les messages les plus profonds et capitaux que l’artiste transmet par son art.
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