Gottfried Helnwein | PRESS | Internet | GOTTFRIED'S GHOSTSuntitled

In one Gottfried Helnwein painting, a child sits slumped at the foot of her bed, her expression strangely blank given the other figure in the bare room — a ghostly, uniformed bunny standing at attention like something out of a nightmarish Nutcracker (or, given the rabbit’s creepy saucer-wide eyes, Donnie Darko). In another, the girl dozes as a Mad Hatter–ish beast, outfitted entirely in yellow, reaches out to scoop her up. Although children wounded both physically and psychologically have appeared in Helnwein's work since the early '70s - earning him no small measure of controversy..


		15. December 2005 San Francisco Weekly sfweekly.com Michael Leaverton GOTTFRIED'S GHOSTS Gottfried Helnwein, one man show at Modernism San Francisco In one Gottfried Helnwein painting, a child sits slumped at the foot of her bed, her expression strangely blank given the other figure in the bare room — a ghostly, uniformed bunny standing at attention like something out of a nightmarish Nutcracker (or, given the rabbit’s creepy saucer-wide eyes, Donnie Darko). In another, the girl dozes as a Mad Hatter–ish beast, outfitted entirely in yellow, reaches out to scoop her up. Although children wounded both physically and psychologically have appeared in Helnwein's work since the early '70s - earning him no small measure of controversy..


		...these pieces echo his second career as a costume designer for theater and ballet. In the exhibit "New Paintings," the Vienna-born Helnwein, an inspiration to Marilyn Manson and legions of doughy Midwestern teens, lets his photo-realistic skills trump his notorious past.


		Dec. 20-Jan. 14. Modernism, 685 Market (at Kearny), San Francisco, 415-541-0461, http://www.modernisminc.com. sfweekly.com