"Kids and guns is a big issue in society today, especially in America," explains Helnwein," One aspect of these pictures refers to the Columbine High School shootings, when Manson was blamed. And now the whole country is going to war. America worships guns. Every day you hear of child abuse. There are these cases with the Roman Catholic church. We're living in a crazy society. I believe a true artist will always reflect the state society is in." ...

Gottfried Helnwein's extensive 1997 retrospective at the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg gave visitors an overview of his work going back to his street actions in Vienna in the 1970s, his grimacing iconic self-portraits that suggest self-mutilation, and on to his menacing canvases depicting the evils of the Third Reich.
He has worked as a painter. draftsman, photographer, muralist, sculptor and performance artist. His work is consistently concerned with psychological anxiety.
In his new series of paintings, done in somber monochrome blues, he continues to work with singulae sense of suspense and mystery. ...

 
Although cartoons and caricatures have played an important role in Western culture since the Middle Ages, the development of the comic strip and comic books are a unique American phenomenon and has contributed significantly to American visual culture.
...Gottfried Helnwein's "American Prayer," which is a large hyper-realistic painting of a boy kneeling in bedtime prayer to a large and looming Donald Duck.
About Helnwein's piece: Clark says, "In many ways, this is the signature piece for this whole show, because it shows how cartoon imagery has entered our culture, our world, our daily life." ...

(Illustrated Books).
Publishers Weekly; January 27, 2003
... paintings of Braque, Dali and Degas, and even an occasional piece of sculpture. Baudelaire's "Giantess" mirrors Gottfried Helnwein' s Lulu, a giantess in garters--other juxtapositions are more of an artistic stretch. As a stimulus to sexual reflection ... ...

COMIC RELEASE: NEGOTIATING IDENTITY FOR A NEW GENERATION
The Regina Gouger Miller Gallery
Carnegie Mellon University, Oakland
Through March 21
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Mickey: So, uh, guys, it's a small world after all, don't ya think?
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Spider-Man: Um, yes. I never really believed I'd ever be in a museum, sharing wall space with you, Donald Duck, or even really with Superman or that weird Ghost World guy.
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Daniel Clowes: Hey, I'm right here. I can hear you perfectly well. And it's not just me; there are other alternative comics artists here, too, like Joe Sacco and Chris Ware. We can't believe our stuff is even on the wall, let alone alongside real artists like Barry McGee, Inka Essenhigh or Gottfried Helnwein.
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Gottfried Helnwein: Yes, it's quite a mix. I'm not sure what I think about it. After all, I borrow imagery from comics, and I really appreciate the do-it-yourself ethic of 'zine editors...but still, I am a painter and my paintings really do belong in a museum. You guys belong in books, in comic book stores.
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This fictional dialogue isn't too far-fetched from the one that the curators of Comic Release: Negotiating Identity for a New Generation hope visitors will engage in when they visit the show. Curators Vicky A. Clark, Barbara Bloemink, Ana Merino and Rick Gribenas know that this smart and intriguing collection of comics, both mainstream and alternative, 'zines and fine art is about dialogue in more ways than one.
...

The child stares out from the publicity photos, skin white with dust and eyes expressionless. In a society fluent in the language of news media it's almost impossible not to interpret the blank face of Gottfried Helnwein's photo Child1:
it becomes a symbol of lost innocence and silent accusation.
The show this image promotes, Close Your Little Eyes, is a music theatre-installation devised by composer and director Max Lyandvert. Taking as its starting point a lullaby from the Vilnius Ghetto, it juxtaposes visual and sound images with music scored for 16-voice children's choir, string quartet and soprano soloist. ...

The Rules of Attraction promotional campaign skirted with controversy on more than one occasion, but there's a story that remains largely untold.
Helnwein:
Two images I could not forget - the rape scene and the suicide of that girl in the bath tub - very startling and so different than anything you have ever seen about these subjects on film.
There was a strange and sad beauty in the tardy, dreamlike movements of this girl with the expressionless face, slashing her wrists and slowly turning the water red. Theresa's acting, camera and music in that instant were one of the magic moments in cinema-history. ...

famed for his confronting paintings, Helnwein is as incisive with the camera as with the brush, as this portraits from the 80s attest. ...

Marilyn Manson's new Interscope album, "The Golden Age of Grotesque," arrives this week. The set, produced by Manson and Tim Skold, is led by the single "mOBSCENE." Says Manson, "This album is about expression. The imagination and personality of the individual cannot be trapped by small minds or defined by any one person. The genius of art finds sanctuary among children and madmen to survive. That, is who we are." ...

Marilyn Manson:
About a year ago, I hooked up with Gottfried Helnwein, and he and I have been working together on various projects that, again, cross the boundaries between photography, painting, film, and installation. It's part of what I'm going to unleash and put into effect as the next couple of months unfold. It's stuff that people dont get to see anymore; it's stuff that happened in the '30s, '40s, '50s and even the '60s with the Panic Movement and Action. Gottfried really pushes the envelope, not just for shock value but for the betterment of art, to make people want to have style because they like it, not because they want to impress other people, to want to be creative because it feeds them and it makes them exist. ...