Los Angeles – based Mercedes Helnwein has her debut Irish exhibition opening in the South Tipperary Arts Centre on Friday, June the 9th. The exhibition is entitled ‘Last Chapter Of Dreaming’ and features a number of portraits and images in pencil.Mercedes Helnwein, was born in Vienna and is daughter of renowned painter Gottfried Helnwein who lives in Tipperary. At a young age, she began publishing works in various magazines and literary journals – fiction as well as non-fiction. She has had exhibitions mainly in America with the most recent taking place in San Francisco last month. The exhibition in Clonmel will run from June 9th – 24th.More >Visual Arts
Drawings by LA-based artist Mercedes Helnwein feature in the Centre during June. These extraordinary drawings range from simple individual portraits to images which have a single person number of figures involved in what seems like a tense narrative (see image 'Melinda' above).Mercedes is interested in 'Americana', a certain imaginaitive sense of America specifically outlined in works she cites as her influences . She says: "from Robert Crumb to Alfred Kubin, and from Bukowski to the Blues [these artists] have helped push me in various directions, ultimately landing me in a style of my own."She continues: "I think the power of visual art – what it does to the viewer, what it stirs up or lets loose – is something that can’t be transcribed into words, at least not with great accuracy. Therefore I find it hard to go into great detail about the mechanics of creating art or finding subject matter. I draw whatever amuses me at that specific moment in time. It feels good, it feels like it needs to be done – and so I indulge in it. Although, I can say that I am drawn to images that are subtle and weird – things that don’t make an awful lot of sense and let you rummage around your personal dreams and nightmares for answers."
The exhibition runs from June 12th - June 24th