And I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was greatly influenced by painters. Often, the spark of an idea for a story comes from a painting I’ve seen. For me, certain painters are great storytellers, better than most writers. It is the power of suggestion in their work, the bits and pieces left up to your own brain that try to make sense of what is transpiring in the image. I just saw an amazing exhibit by Gottfried Helnwein that did that. ...

Organized by the Crocker, the exhibition features 70 major paintings and photographs from throughout Helnwein’s career. Highlights include his iconic portraits of performer Marilyn Manson, works from his major recurring theme, “The Child,” and his most recent series, “Disasters of War.” “Inferno of the Innocents” is the first museum exhibition to examine Helnwein — who has been based in Los Angeles part-time for nearly 10 years — as a California artist. ...

We met with Helnwein a day after his solo exhibition opened at Friedman Benda in New York. The minute he sat down and started talking, it was as if we were catching up with an old friend. He held nothing back. We discussed our respective childhood experiences, Austrian guilt, isolation, his practice, the importance of art, and what it's like to live in a castle. Helnwein is a real person. ...

In the coming months, visitors can look forward to screenings of “The Silence of Innocence,” a documentary on artist Gottfried Helnwein, who is the subject of a career-spanning survey at the Crocker from Jan. 29 through April 24. ...

The New York Observer recently spoke with Janine Cirincione of the Friedman Benda gallery about the provocative young artist Gottfried Helnwein's first show, "I Was A Child," which runs there through Oct. 23. For a taste of his grim works, check out our video preview below. ...

Helnwein is highly recommended even to those who do not have a predilection for morbid or grotesque art, for his intention is not merely to shock or titillate. Whereas many modern artists get lost in the artifice of excessive conceptualism, Gottfried Helnwein continues to produce challenging, thought-provoking work based on the weight of the subject matter, not the way in which it is presented. Having produced a wide range of imagery in a variety of mediums, Helnwein’s development is fascinating to trace from conceptual beginnings to his current synthesis of pop and fine art. ...

Using the metaphor of youthful innocence as a means to reveal the age-old violence that continues to permeate our times, Gottfried Helnwein produces impeccable realist paintings that send shivers down the spine. Casting children in the roles of both perpetrators and victims of war and terror, the LA-based artist strikes a sensitive nerve with his haunting visual narratives. ...

On a more costume/fashion note at college I designed costumes for dark fairytale operas- Gottfried Helnwein was such a fantastic inspiration with his extravagant rococo style opera dresses filled with lights. ...

Helnwein creates hallucinatory images of reverie, and it is with powerful gestures of light and shadow that he seduces the viewer even as he depicts the aftermath of violence, brutality and suffering. His paintings often depict children as victims of unexplained violence, representing them as archetypal characters in a theatre of cruelty perpetrated by unseen forces. Equally mesmerizing are the artist’s personifications of Mickey Mouse and anime figures, casting them in his on-going exploration of psychological and sociological anxiety and society’s darkest impulses. ...

... his startling body of work: macabre paintings with photographic resonance played out on a grand scale and often in public settings. Throughout his career, Helnwein has glided easily between watercolor, oil and installation work, but his big subject has always been childhood, and not the happy sort. With titles like ‘‘The Murmur of the Innocents’’ and ‘‘God of Sub-Humans,’’ these works — executed with obsessive, old-master-worthy technique — can be as bludgeoning as, say, a Rammstein riff, but you can’t take your eyes off them. ...

High polish and verisimilitude are undeniably impressive when done right: Gottfried Helnwein's "Child" paintings, Jeff Koons' faux-inflatables, or Patricia Piccinini's eerily uncanny monsters would all fall flat if their slickly unquestionable surfaces were any less perfect. ...

Salvador Dali's "Hitler Masturbating" is a masterpiece of satire, or so says my inner Beavis, anyhow.  Gottfried Helnwein's painting Epiphany I is another excellent example, reminding us that not only was Hitler once a baby, but also that we can recognize him without his mustache. ...

The Crocker Art Museum will present a series of special exhibitions to celebrate its opening, among them Wayne Thiebaud: Homecoming, a new retrospective of the work of Sacramento’s most famous artist, who held his first solo exhibition at the Crocker nearly 60 years ago.
The works of Gottfried Helnwein, and John Buck will be featured in exhibitions opening in the winter of 2011. In summer 2011, the Crocker will present A Summer of Impressionism, with works by renowned French and American artists showcased in exhibitions alongside works by California Impressionists, one of the central strengths of the Crocker’s permanent collection. ...

"The figure with the mask is the artist Gottfried Helnwein medical and character with a bird mask and white gloves by the impresario Lewis Carroll, is Marilyn Manson." ...

Back in 2004, Marilyn Manson announced that he will write and direct a feature film called "Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll." The film never happened, but in 2006, a promo trailer was shot. That trailer is now online. This teaser features real-life twin sisters engaging in questionable acts and burlesque superstar Dita Von Teese. The figure in the medical mask is artist Gottfried Helnwein and the bird-face masked character and white gloved Lewis Carroll impresario, is Marilyn Manson." ...

Originally conceived in 2004 with pre-production throughout 2005 via The Wild Bunch (UK) and with an initial budget of $5-7 million, 'Phantasmagoria' was due to begin filming in 2006. Lily Cole, inspiration of Tim Burton's recent 'Alice in Wonderland', was originally cast as Manson's Alice for 'Phantasmagoria'. This teaser also features real-life twin sisters engaging in questionable acts and burlesque superstar Dita Von Teese. The figure in the medical mask is artist Gottfried Helnwein, and the bird-face masked character and white-gloved Lewis Carroll impresario [are both] Marilyn Manson. ...

This amazing, eight foot Gottfried Helnwein piece will look dope in some lucky Disney exec's office! So 600 mil... PLUS a Mickey painting! Filmmaker Kevin Smith writes WaxWord that he has desperately been trying to help Bob and Harvey Weinstein close the deal to buy Miramax. "I've sweetened the Weinstein's offer to buy Miramax back," he writes. "All day yesterday and just now this morning, I've been throwing Tweets and large artwork at the Mouse to up the ante, but they've not responded." Smith is a Weinstein diehard, who has been following the MIramax sale closely. The brothers bravely backed Smith in making such lasting cultural oddities ...landmarks... movies as "Clerks," "Mallrats," and "Chasing Amy." He has been Twittering (@thatkevinsmith) to his million-plus followers about the deal - offernig Mickey Mouse paintings, for example. The deal is in the midst of pitched negotiations since the Weinsteins were granted an exclusive window through the weekend to try and close the deal. ...

This leads to the current governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Who will he select to depict him – in all his glory? There already exists an exquisite portrait of Schwarzenegger the body-builder done in 1977 by Jamie Wyeth. Were they alive today, perhaps Richard Rubenstein (of Interview cover fame), or even Andy Warhol himself, could have painted the official portrait. Since post-Studio 54, Schwarzenegger has been good friends with Gottfried Helnwein. Given his style of hyperrealism, I would not be surprised if he is chosen to paint the official portrait. This would be a similar break with tradition as was Brown's work, but given the history of this Governor and the unorthodox nature of both his personality and his ascension, a traditional portrait would seem out of place. ...

cover art: blue child by Gottfried Helnwein ...

Helnwein's realization of the final scene takes the breath away: a view of dozens of bloodied children's bodies, some of them hanging, some of them turning over and over in mid-air, as a vocal ensemble sings their words while kneeling on stage.
This vision connects eerily with an exhibition in the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Centre plaza, adapted from one the Austrian Artist mounted in Cologne in 1988, marking the 50th anniversary of the Nazis' anti-Jewish Kristallnacht. It shows two rows of innocent, haunted-looking child's faces, one row with eyes open; the other with eyes closed, lined up as if in a concentration camp (Selektion is the exhibit's title). ...