HELNWEIN' S WORK, by William S. Burroughs
"Helnwein Faces"Edition Stemmle, 1992
There is a basic misconception that any given face, at any given time, looks more or less the same, like a statue's face.Actually, the human face is as variable from moment to moment as a screen on which images are reflected, from within and from without. I have seen six pictures of the same subject taken in less than a minute - so different one from the other, as not to be recognizable as the same person.Gottfried Helnwein's paintings and photographs attack this misconception, showing the variety of faces of which any face is capable. And in order to attack the basic misconception, he must underline and exaggerate by distortion, by bandages and metal instruments that force the face into impossible molds. Images of torture and madness abound, as happens from moment to moment in the face seen as a sensitive reflection of extreme perceptions and experience.
How can a self-portrait depict statuesque calm in the face of the horrors that surround us all? The torture, disease, fear and hatred that has come to be the daily fare of what the Pope calls "the banquet of life".These tortured faces all say: "This is what I mean... and this... and this... Look, and you will see."
You can't show anyone anything he hasn't seen already, on some level - anymore than you can tell anyone anything he doesn't already know.It is the function of the artist to evoke the experience of surprised recognition: to show the viewer what he knows but does not know that he knows.Helnwein is a master of surprised recognition.
Helnwein - Faces, the exhibition
60 silver-prints on bromoil-paper99 x 66 cm
The "Faces" solo-exhibition was shown at the follwing museums between 1990 and 1998 :
1990Musée de l’Elysée Lausanneone man show.1992Goethe InstitutExposition au Goethe Institut, Centre culturell allemand, Parisone man show.1992Stadtmuseum, Munichone man show.1993Joseph Albers MuseumQuadrat Bottrop, Moderne Galerieone man show.1993Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonnone-man show.1994Städtisches Museum Schleswigone man show.1994Centre International d'Art Contemporain de Montréal, Quebecone man show.1995Houston Center for Photographyone man show
The solo-exhibitions were organized and coordinated by Renate Helnwein in cooperation with Thomas Buchsteiner and curators of the Museums.
"Faces"- silver-prints by Gottfried Helnwein were also shown in the following museum-exhibitions:
1995Ludwig Museum Cologne"Celebrities- Celebrities"Photographische Portraits aus der Sammlung Gruber im Museum Ludwig.1996SFMOMA, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art"Photographs selected from the Museum Collection".1998Ludwig Museum, Schloss Oberhausen"Götter, Helden und Idole (Gods, Heroes and Idols).2003Galerie der Stadt Stuttgart"Meisterwerke der Fotografie - Portraitfotografie aus der Sammlung der DG- Bank".2004Neuer Kunstverein Aschaffenburg"Sammeln - Portraitfotografie"Die Sammlung der DZ Bank.2004Musée de l´Elysée, Lausanne"Gesichter machen - Das Verschwinden des Portraits".2004ZKM, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe"Meisterwerke der Medienkunst aus der ZKM-Sammlung"Künstler und ihre Werke.2005Haus der Fotografie, Moskau„Das Versprechen der Fotografie“Die Sammlung der DZ Bank.2006Kunsthalle Wien und Kunstforum Wien"Superstars: Zum Prinzip Prominenz in der Kunst, von Warhol bis Madonna".2007De Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco,"Rembrandt to Thiebaud: A Decade of Collecting Works on Paper"
"Gottfried Helnwein - Faces", Centre International Contemporain d'Art, Montreal, 1994
The Gazette, MontrealAnn Dunkan
REMBRANDT TO THIEBAUD: A DECADE OF COLLECTING WORKS ON PAPER
De YoungFine Arts Museums of San Francisco23. Juni 2007 - 07. Oktober 2007
A special emphasis has been placed on the acquisition of photography, with important works by Carleton Watkins, Lewis Carroll, Imogen Cunningham, Diane Arbus and Gottfried Helnwein on display.
SAMMELN – PORTRAITFOTOGRAFIE
Neuer Kunstverein AschaffenburgMuseum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main20. June 2004 - 18. July 2004.Gottfried Helnwein - portraitiert in der Serie „Faces“ Persönlichkeiten wie Michael Jackson, Willy Brandt, Maximilian Schell, Elton John, Andy Warhol, Leni Riefenstahl u.a.. Obgleich vielmals zuvor fotografiert und jedem aus den Medien bekannt, zeigen sie sich in den Bildern jenseits aller Eitelkeiten, in einer ungewohnten Offenheit und Ehrlichkeit, die geprägt ist von Verfall und Tod. (Bernd Reiß).Weitere Künstler: Christian Boltanski, Jochen Gerz, Gottfried Helnwein, Nobuyoshi Araki, Dennis Adams, Piotr Uklanski. und August Sander.
