Austrian artist Gottfriend Helnwein's large mixed media portrait of a little girl faces the gallery's entrance. The press release states, "[Helnwein's] images intend to evoke associations with mutilation, anguish or internal alienation ... his paintings blatantly put forward images that border the line of social unacceptability and comment on the results of post Second World War society." ...

In 1980, Modernism became the first gallery on the West Coast to show Russian avant-garde art, and is one of only two galleries in the nation that continue to exhibit such works today.
Muller, through gallery shows, has helped build the careers of American realist painter John Register, sociopolitical conceptual artist Gottfried Helnwein, social portraitist Robert Crumb and narrative painter Mark Stock, to name a few.
Muller has also helped with exhibitions at Bay Area museums such as Helnwein's challenging show, "The Child," the Palace of the Legion of Honor last August. ...

MADRID, SPAIN.
- This is the biggest ever exhibition devoted to the life of the ultimate screen icon, Marilyn Monroe - Life of a Legend. Showcasing more than 250 works from over 70 famous artists and renowned photographers. As a tribute to her lasting popularity this extraordinary exhibition charts every stage of the bittersweet story of Monroe's life and career. Works on display include well-known pieces by renowned artists such as Andy Warhol, Allan Jones, Peter Blake, Richard Avedon, Gottfried Helnwein and Henri Cartier-Bresson, as well as previously unseen works by Conny Holthusen, Antonio de Felipe, José de Guimares and Ernesto Tatafiore. ...

...On the other hand, two large faces - Gottfried Helnwein's Head of a Child and Richard Phillips' Brandbild (Sunburn) - hold our gaze, as they gaze at us, though I'm not sure just what they say about that state between whatever and whatever, be it heaven and hell, action and inaction, or plain old fretful stasis. ...

TEMPE, ARIZONA.- The Arizona State University Art Museum will present The Other Mainstream: Selections from the Collection of Mikki and Stanley Weithorn, January 22 - April 23, 2005. A dynamic selection of works from the collection of Mikki and Stanley Weithorn, "The Other Mainstream" shows their ongoing commitment to social and political issues and artists of color. ...

Beginning November 3 the gallery showcases recent paintings by Gottfried Helnwein. A Swiss-born artist whose work spans a broad spectrum of media, Helnwein was strongly influenced by the dark, devastated world he perceived as a child in post–World War II Europe. His imagery is haunting and his draftsmanship impeccable, inviting a closer look in spite of often chilling subject matter. Helwein’s paintings will remain on view through December 23. ...

TOP 10
The Gottfried Helnwein exhibition "The Child" at the Palace of the Legion of Honor (San Francisco Fine Arts Museums, July) was chosen as the most important show of a contemporary artist in 2004.
"In the first of two shows (the other at the Modernism Gallery in November), Helnwein's large format, photo-realist images of children of various demeanors boldly probed the subconscious. Innocence, sexuality, victimization and haunting self-possession surge and flicker in Helnwein's unnerving work." ...

Do you have any art in your home?
- Gottfried Helnwein I own. I have a few pieces of his from his recent L.A. series. We ultimately ended up working together on a video project for Peter Gabriel [“The Barry Williams Show”]. Some things that are familiar lose their gravity after time. When someone like him makes the familiar so continually provocative, you can find a deepening appreciation for something. ...

While tracking down alligators, Mr. Penn discusses the state of affairs in Hollywood and Washington. ...

"...When I look at a work of Art I ask myself: does it challenge me, does it touch, move or inspire me? Do I learn something from it, does it startle or amaze me - do I get excited, upset?
That is the test any artwork has to pass: can it create an emotional impact on a human being even when he has no education or any information about art? I’ve always had a problem with art that you can only understand if you have a degree in art history, and I have a problem with theories in general. Most of them are bullshit anyway.
Most critics and theorists have little respect for artists, and I think the importance of theory in art is totally overrated. Real art is self-evident. Real art is intense, challenging, enchanting, exciting and unsettling; it has a quality and magic that you cannot explain. Like the Blues, a poem of Rimbaud or Rembrandt's late self-portraits.
Art is not logic, and if you really want to experience it, your mind and rational thinking will be of little help. Art is something spiritual that you can only experience with your senses, your heart, your soul. Think of Bob Dylan, Hendrix, Mozart, Howling Wolf, Goya, Bukowski or Robert Crumb - do you need to know the theories that some busybodies might attach to their art in order to experience it?
Marcel Duchamp said: "The work of art is always based on the two poles of the onlooker and the maker, and the spark that comes from the bipolar action gives birth to something - like electricity."
These two poles is all you need. ...