But what does the hyper-realism of Austrian-born, Irish-based artist Gottfried Helnwein say to us and about us in the context of "Body Anxious"? His work is what puts this show on the map of bodily pain and anxiety. He has painted a hyper-realistic, oversized portrait of a little girl in a pink-and-white undershirt, her head and eyes swathed in gauze so recently wrapped that it glistens with blood. It is from Helnwein's "Los Caprichos" series, named after the famous Goya series. Art historians say Goya's "Caprichos" mark the beginning of the modern world of art because they were the first to look at, rather than avoid or symbolize, pain, fantasy, cruelty, disloyalty and any other number of grievous human traits. ...

The exhibit will explore the intersection of art, the body, and medical procedures, with the implicit fear of bodily pain (real or imagined) as a major theme. The human body is vulnerable and mortal, yet it is also the biological basis of human existence. "Body Anxious" includes works by artists from around the world, in, often, unconventional media, who examine the anxieties associated with medical procedures and instruments, and other experiences that remind us of our shared precarious biological condition.
Artists include: Gottfried Helnwein, Kiki Smith, Diana Falchuk, James R. Southard, Drew Sellers, Cristin Millet and Chiharu Shiota. ...

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.
(Gottfried Helnwein, William S. Burroughs 1990, 99 cm x 66 cm, silver print) ...

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Das Karikaturmuseum Krems hat den Maler Gottfried Helnwein dafür gewinnen können, seine vor mehr als einem Jahrzehnt bereits in zehn europäischen Museen gezeigte Schau über das Wirken des im Jahr 2000 verstorbenen amerikanischen Comickünstlers Carl Barks in neuem Gewande nun auch den Österreichern zugänglich zu machen. Der unvorbereitete Besucher des bunten Karikaturentempels in der fast schon kitschig pittoresken Donaulandschaft Wachau wird nicht mit Spitzfindigkeiten skurriler Comicinterpreten konfrontiert. Mit erstaunlich sanfter Hand führt der selten wegen übertriebener Bescheidenheit gerühmte Ausstellungsmacher Helnwein, unterstützt vom Berliner Comicgaleristen Carsten Laqua und dem Cartoonisten Manfred Deix, durch den Kosmos der Familie Duck. ...

Gottfried Helnwein's latest exhibition, "Face It", is the artist's first show in his native Austria since 1985. A retrospective of 40 works from the 1970s to the present, it is more shocking than the Royal Academy's infamous "Sensation" of 1997. Helnwein aims to disturb not with, say, an elephant-dung Madonna, as Chris Ofili did then, but with a far more controversial Virgin. Of all his paintings, the most disturbing is Epiphany (1996), for which he dips into our collective memory of Christianity's most famous birth. This Austrian Catholic Nativity scene has no magi bearing gifts. Madonna and child are encircled by five respectful Waffen SS officers palpably in awe of the idealised, kitsch-blonde Virgin. The Christ toddler, who stands on Mary's lap, stares defiantly out of the canvas. Helnwein's baby Jesus is Adolf Hitler.
(Julia Pascal, New Statesman, UK, "Nazi Dreaming", April 10, 2006) ...

(ots) - Am 17.5. 2007, 21:00 MESZ, eröffnet das Gottfried Helnwein Museum in Second Life. Damit betritt einer der bedeutendsten lebenden Künstler die virtuelle Welt in Second Life. Gottfried Helnwein nutzt damit eine Möglichkeit dieser Online-Welt, die es im echten Leben nicht gibt: Die Ausstellung seines gesamten Lebenswerks in einem einzigen Museum. Seine in mehr als 35 Jahren geschaffenen Arbeiten sind in vielen Museen und bedeutenden privaten Sammlungen in der ganzen Welt verstreut.
Es wäre kaum möglich, sie in einem realen Museum für eine einzige Präsentation zusammenzubringen.
Die Ausstellungsfläche des virtuellen Museums beträgt mehr als 80.000 qm. Das Museum und das Ausstellungskonzept sind von Gottfried Helnwein mitgestaltet worden. ...

Austrian National television produced this 45 minute documentary about Gottfried Helnwein - one of the most discussed living artists, who's work is often considered provocative and controversial. ...

Together they inspect the hanging of Helnwein's Landscape "Death Valley" (2002 - 2006, oil and acrylic on canvas, 120 x 774cm, 48 x 296 inches) in the Governor's Council Room. ...

Damien Hirst, Gottfried Helnwein, Jörg Immendorff, Anselm Kiefer, Per Kirkeby, Gerhard Richter, Paul McCarthy, Georg Baselitz, Hermann Nitsch, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Gabriel Orozco, Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Katrin Plavçak, Philip Taaffe, Elke Krystufek, Alfred Kubin, Siegfried Anzinger, David Bailey, Sam Francis. ...