Artist of inner Turmoil.
Gottfried Helnwein's works from the 1980's are represented by the self-portraits in his "Black Mirror" series. However, these works reach far beyond the boundaries of the ordinary self-portrait. They reflect the inner wants and desperation which lies within the viewer's own self. Helnwein points out the new form of the modern self-portrait which involves the creator and viewer alike. ...

Wenn wir von Helnwein sagen, er habe von aussen nach innen gemalt, dann heisst das,daß seine minutiöse und bohrend-insistierende Arbeitsweise, die die geschaute Wirklichkeit brutal interpretiert, eine hinter den Dingen im Verborgenen liegende Welt aufzudecken versucht. ...

Biennale-catalogue
This edition, at the Promotrice delle Belle Arti, coincided with the 150 anniversary of the birth of photography. The curator, Daniela Palazzoli, underlined the importance of the artistic value of photograpy putting aside the historical and modern section a contemporary section that hosts authors like David Hockney, Gottfried Helnwein,Clegg & Guttmann, renowned names in the artistic world. ...

Gottfried HELNWEIN. "Sans Titre"
Huile sur béton Fragment Mur de Berlin 1990 - 100 x 120 cm.
Collection Art Liberté, Paris - France.
Gottfried Helnwein: Né en 1948 à Vienne, Autriche.

Artist of inner Turmoil.
Gottfried Helnwein's works from the 1980's are represented by the self-portraits in his "Black Mirror" series. However, these works reach far beyond the boundaries of the ordinary self-portrait.
They reflect the inner wants and desperation which lies within the viewer's own self.
Helnwein points out the new form of the modern self-portrait which involves the creator and viewer alike. ...

...

"In the struggle against the Jew, I defend the acts of God!" Those were Hitler's words in Mein Kampf.
I admire the work of Gottfried Helnwein a great deal. This photographic testimony encourages reflection and provokes the examination of conscience, which is necessary for every one of us where racism is concerned. The laceration of the portraits is proof of the fact that we cannot be indifferent to the warning of the "final solution".
I consider myself lucky to be able to exhibit this gallery of memories in its present form in Lausanne. ...

With the Installation "Ninth of November Night" Gottfried Helnwein wanted to remind us of the "Reichskristallnacht", November 9th to 10th, 1938. He has consciously foregone using documentary archive material. He is chiefly interested in the attitude behind the catastrophe, the roots of the holocaust - the delusion that one is able to measure the worthiness or unworthiness of humans by the form of the nose and ears, by the hair and colour of the eyes. ...

It was to our good fortune that Gottfried Helnwein also strove to break away from the museum and gallery sector in order to communicate with a larger public. This appeared on a grand scale on the site between the cathedral and Museum Ludwig, and at a time of "photokina", with its hundreds of thousands of visitors. The 100 metre picture wall did not fail to hit its mark: it induced bewilderment as well as aggressiveness. After a few days numerous pictures had been slashed, one even stolen. Gottfried Helnwein saw the exhibition as a process which would continue and be reflected in later presentations. The pictures were not renewed, but patched up, so that this reminder of the persecution of Jewish people would bear the traces of a lack of insight and understanding in the present day. ...

Not even the children were spared; they, too, fell victim to the destruction.
It was Gottfried Helnwein's most convincing idea to present the consequences to this "period without mercy" in such an unconventional manner. He made no use of photos of heaped corpses; children's portraits force the observer to stop and consider this idea. The fury with which the neo-nazis reacted to these portraits is understandable inasmuch as it is the very same fury with which they have for years been fighting against The Diary of Anne Frank; the murder of children rouses abhorrence and conflict in every human, whether they are motivated by ideology or insanity. The urge to destroy has survived; the portraits bear witness to its rage - an attempt was made to cut them to shreds. "People, please, stop,... look at these children's faces, multiply their number by a few hundred thousand. Only then will you realise or gain an inkling of the extent of this holocaust, of the greatest tragedy in human history!" ...