The two celebs are reportedly going to bring in 2007 holed up in a remote Irish castle to which they travelled to recently. The Presleys will be staying at the exclusive Castle de La Poer in Co Tipperary, the home of Priscilla's pal, the reclusive Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein. ...

Some of the biggest names in contemporary art are coming to the Denver Art Museum as part of an unprecedented year-long lecture series., funded by internationally known collectors Vicki and Kent Logan of Vail.
The lineup, titled "Logan Lectures 2007," will feature 10 major artists from around the world whose works are on view in the museum's new $110 million Hamilton Building. The series begins in January and runs through December. Some of their pieces can be seen in the largest of the temporary exhibitions on view as part of the addition's inauguration - "Radar: Selections From the Collection of Vicki and Kent Logan." ...

Gottfried Helnwein is an artistic icon in both Europe and America who has exhibited all over the world. His style ranges from comics to hyper-naturalism and even to installation work, but is always founded in an amazing skill and craftsmanship. The show features works of Helnwein’s dating back to the 80s and up to 1997, in a gathering of the best of Helnwein’s work from the past two decades. The most astounding work is, without a doubt, Pietà from 1997, which also introduces some of the main elements that flow through Helnwein’s work—namely the use of motives from religious art and references to major works of art history. ...

At City Hall on Thursday, Nov. 16, the Philadelphia City Council passed a resolution commemorating the 68th anniversary of Kristallnacht and recognizing Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein for his contributions to assuring that the Holocaust will never be forgotten. "Ninth November Night," a world-renowned exhibit of Helnwein's work commemorating Kristallnacht, will have its U.S debut at the Judge Lewis Quadrangle in Philadelphia next April. ...

Mr. Kresnik's stage pictures are often powerful. His ''Rheingold'' and ''Walküre'' compaction introduces Wagner; Nietzsche; King Ludwig; various Wagner wives and lovers; Konrad Adenauer, the first chancellor of West Germany; a ''red figure''; and modern-day soldiers and G.I.'s among the characters. Ludwig dances in his familiar blue jacket, naked from the waist down. Alberich hacks off his penis with a giant sword. The first act of ''Die Walküre'' is a trio for three naked men, one of whom becomes visibly pregnant (the wonders of a prosthesis and flesh-colored makeup). This last, it might be argued, successfully reintroduces the transgressive impact of incest to a modern audience lulled by Wagner's music. ...

Conceptual artist Gottfried Helnwein grew up in Vienna after World War II and was deeply influence by the Holocaust, Donald Duck, Elvis, and the Rolling Stones. His art constantly questions society by looking at its impact on the most innocent — the children. ...

Dita Von Teese: "Bespoke - whether it's jewellery design or putting together a party - is like, 'Wow.' I love the way the Regency and Victorian era really knew how to party. There was so much attention to detail. People have become lazy about entertaining. It’s all done to a formula.” Her dream theme is a Marie Antoinette banquet. "I love centrepieces dripping with flowers, berries and fruit. In those days, people would eat the table arrangements, and 1 love that irreverence. Marilyn and Dita were such fun to work with - they let me frame their cheesy childhood photos and put them on the walls of the castle in Tipperary. ...

“Look Now” was a spectacular show comprised of photography, installations, painting and video art. The images were often disturbing as the examples of Gottfried Helnwein’s haunting painting of a child in military dress and Tony Oursler’s disembodied, frog-like talking heads, which amused, admonished and interrogated their audience went fully to show. The exhibit attempted to “confront us with the realities that lie behind and between our fantasies of who we are and of the world in which we live,” and this was certainly chillingly and mesmerizingly achieved. ...

This is the first art history that analyzes the use of Disney imagery by such artists as Lichtenstein, Oldenburg, Warhol, Chagoya, Thiebaud, Helnwein, Boltanski, Dion, Pesanto, Ospina, Finley and many more. This book explores the impact of Disney, including artists’ economic and psychological motivations, on contemporary art. Disney refused permission for any images - their and artists. ...

Contemporary Looks "Radar: Selections From the Collection of Vicki and Kent Logan" will be the principal opening exhibition. Among, the works on view will be Thomas Schutte's "Grosse Geister," (left), Franz Ackermann's "B 1 (Barbeque with the Duke)" (center) and Gottfried Helnwein's "Epiphany" (right). ...