Gottfried Helnwein | NEWS | News Update

28. March 2002
The Merkury News
Jack Fischer
`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.


		01. March 2002 San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art PORTRAIT OBSCURED group show Gottfried Helnwein, John Lennon, 1994 oil and acrylic on canvas, courtesy Modernism, San Francisco


		ABOUT FACE - PORTRAIT ARTISTS FIND WAYS TO DISTILL PERSONALITY BY OBSCURING 28. March 2002 The Merkury News Jack Fischer `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. ABOUT FACE - PORTRAIT ARTISTS FIND WAYS TO DISTILL PERSONALITY BY OBSCURING