Gottfried Helnwein
dal 15/9/2010 al 22/10/2010
Segnalato da
15/9/2010
Gottfried Helnwein
Friedman Benda, New York
I Was a Child. Helnwein has been known as a master of provocation in the visual and performing arts. While his early works are drawn from the horrors witnessed by his own generation and his youth in post-World War II Austria, his recent paintings are more enigmatic and open-ended, broadening from specific narrative scenes to paintings with a metaphoric resonance.
Friedman Benda is pleased to announce the opening of an exhibition of new paintings by Gottfried Helnwein.
The exhibition runs from September 16 through October 23, 2010.
I Was a Child is the first full-scale exhibition of Helnwein's work in New York and represents the next generation of some of the artist's classic themes and subjects. The exhibition includes The Disasters of War, Murmur of the Innocents, Epiphany and Midnight Mickey as well as an entirely new series devoted to his iconic Sleep series.
Gottfried Helnwein has been known for decades as a master of provocation and technique in the visual and performing arts. While his early works are drawn from the horrors witnessed by his own generation and his youth in post-World War II Austria, Helnwein's recent paintings are more enigmatic and open-ended, broadening from specific narrative scenes to paintings with a universal metaphoric resonance.
Helnwein creates hallucinatory images of reverie, and it is with powerful gestures of light and shadow that he seduces the viewer even as he depicts the aftermath of violence, brutality and suffering. His paintings often depict children as victims of unexplained violence, representing them as archetypal characters in a theatre of cruelty perpetrated by unseen forces. Equally mesmerizing are the artist's personifications of Mickey Mouse and anime figures, casting them in his on-going exploration of psychological and sociological anxiety and society's darkest impulses.
Helnwein's work is visually reminiscent of both old master painting and contemporary cinematography. His use of lighting and mis-en-scene often creates an atmosphere of angst or acquiesence. It is the artist's painterly treatment of unspeakable acts that affords the viewer just enough comfort to contemplate the horrors that he depicts and it is his masterful handling of his painted images that re-inforces the quiet, intrinsic beauty of his subjects.
Born in 1948 in Vienna, Helnwein was educated at the city’s University of Visual Art. He lives and works in Los Angeles and County Tipperary, Ireland
Image: The Murmur of the Innocents 5, 2009. Oil & acrylic on canvas 72 x 116 inches (182.9 x 294.6 cm)
For further information please contact:
Jennifer Olshin 212.239.8700 jennifer@friedmanbenda.com
Janine Cirincione 212.239.8700 janine@friedmanbenda.com
The reception for the artist will be on Thursday, September 16 from 6 – 8 pm.
Friedman Benda
515 West 26th Street New York, NY 10001