Helnwein’s home and studio are located in Tipperary, and the exhibition at the Arts Centre features three large-scale landscapes from around Tipperary and West Waterford including the Nire Valley and Tullamaine.
Helnwein is best known for his courageous work depicting wounded children, as well as performances in public spaces. These paintings are a departure from that work in that they suggest a tranquillity that is not evident in much of his output.
Senator Martin Mansergh officially launched the exhibition and praised the artist by describing the paintings as: "memorable and awe-inspiring."The Senator went on to say; "I think we should be in no doubt that we are in the presence of the work of an artist of exceptional stature, who is greatly in demand, both for different commissions, but also for set designs for stage and film."
Helnwein is currently working in America on stage design for the Los Angeles Opera who will be performing Strauss’ work ‘Der Rosenkavalier’ directed by Maximillian Schell, during their winter/spring season.
Senator Mansergh also suggested that the paintings at the Exhibition pointed out how "intimate and accessible" our mountains are compared to such ranges as the Alps, and said that Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser had also been impressed by the landscape around Tipperary.
The paintings on show have been exhibited recently in Cork and the South Tipperary Arts Centre is delighted to show a selection of the work from that exhibition close to Helnwein's home.
The exhibition runs until December 18th.
Copyright © The Clonmel Nationalist 2004.
