Gottfried Helnwein is an accomplished German photographer who often uses intolerance, death, and violence as his subjects. However, he is also a master of portraiture, and this way oversized book presents his pictures of writers, artists, rock stars, politicians, and other celebrities. Helnwein goes for extreme close-up, filling the frame with his subject's head and neck. When these black and white images are printed on giant pages, they offer life-size reproductions of famous faces, warts and all.

Helnwein's portraits are not one bit flattering. He zooms in so close that every last pore, every tiny wrinkle, every bit of stubble is on full display. Embarrassing details are not covered up. The spittle at the corner of Keith Haring's mouth, the hairs growing out of Charles Bukowski's nose, and Mick Jagger's crows feet are revealed to the world. Looking especially bad is Michael Jackson, who never should have exposed himself to the ruthless probing of Helnwein's lens. The massive amounts of foundation coating Jackson's face and neck make him look as though he has been bronzed.

An entire country is mapped in the lines of William Burroughs' face. In one of the three shots of Uncle Bill, he's posing with a revolver, pointed upwards, beside his head. In the four portraits of Keith Richards, you can see years of hard livin' sandblasted into his mug. The only person who comes out looking presentable is David Bowie, whose picture was taken in color further away than most, so that every facial flaw isn't highlighted. Among Helnwein's other subjects are Sting, Clint Eastwood, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichenstein, Norman Mailer, Simon Wiesenthal, Lech Walesa, and Chick Corea.

An entire country is mapped in the lines of William Burroughs' face. In one of the three shots of Uncle Bill, he's posing with a revolver, pointed upwards, beside his head. In the four portraits of Keith Richards, you can see years of hard livin' sandblasted into his mug. The only person who comes out looking presentable is David Bowie, whose picture was taken in color further away than most, so that every facial flaw isn't highlighted. Among Helnwein's other subjects are Sting, Clint Eastwood, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichenstein, Norman Mailer, Simon Wiesenthal, Lech Walesa, and Chick Corea.

Edition Stemmle (D.A.P.); $50
1992; hugely oversized hardcover; 115 pp
heavily illus; 3-7231-0427-4

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