HELNWEIN, GOTTFRIED

* 08.10.1948 Vienna

Gottfried Helnwein (Wien 1968-lebt und arbeitet in Los Angeles) Wounded children covered in blood, bandaged, disfigured bodies, sinister cartoon figures - Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein both fascinates and shocks in equal measure with his hyper-realistic large-scale works. His portraits, which are based on photographs, deal with themes such as torture, injury and violence, with human beings at centre stage as defenceless victims at the mercy of a dystopian society.

Traumatised by the aftermath of the Second World War and the Holocaust, Helnwein, born in Vienna in 1948, grew up in an ultra-conservative environment, a formative ‘Catholic iconography of pain’. From 1965 to 1969, he first attended the Higher Federal Institution for Graphic Education and Experimentation and then studied under Rudolf Hausner at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. During his studies, he experimented with various techniques and media, but ultimately remained faithful to photography (which always served as the basis for his acrylic and oil paintings), often in combination with performance works. For example, the young Helnwein cut his hand with a razor blade in rebellion against the traditional and conformist art education at the Higher Federal Institution and painted a portrait of Hitler with his own blood.

Despite having been expelled from the Higher Federal Institution, blood has remained a constant in his works, leading to exhibitions being cancelled and confiscated by the police from the 1970s onwards. Hausner's proposal to appoint Helnwein as his successor as head of the painting masterclass was also overwhelmingly rejected in 1985. At the end of the 1980s, he began to expand his work to include installations in public spaces, before moving to the Republic of Ireland in 1997. In the early 2000s, Helnwein set up a studio in Los Angeles, where he still lives and works today.