Gottfried Helnwein is an intelligent individual whose art is influenced, but not overwhelmed, by his awareness of history, culture, and politics. As a young man, his artistic energy needed to be encouraged, channeled and refined. In 1969, with the support of the artist Rudolf Hausner, Helnwein was admitted to the Vienna Academy of Art, the crucible of creativity in Vienna since the days of Gustave Klimt and Egon Schiele. The four years that Helnwein spent there were not for instruction, for he required and received little. It was for the structure and the process. To work within one of the great ateliers, to interact with fellow artists, and to see art as a vehicle for expression to a wider audience. Helnwein wrote of this period: “When I started to paint in the first years, I did not want to know anything about High Art and the art world. Different from most artists I knew, for me it was never a matter of decoration, style, or art reflecting and dealing with the problems of art. It was the politics, society, history, media, news, that provoked, shocked and motivated me and the so-called trivial world of comics, advertising, and Rock and Roll. Art, for me, was not only a way to explore the subject matter of war, violence, and society, but also a way to fight back—a way of resistance—of not agreeing with what an oppressive, manipulating ruling society is trying to force on us. I felt I could strike back with my pictures and force people to look at things they’d rather forget.”