Gottfried Helnwein - I was a child exhibition

The Disasters of War 24 2007

195 cm x 242 cm

mixed media (oil and acrylic on canvas)

In Memory of Francisco de Goya

As I have just chosen to do the seminar called Mirrors of Enigma with Dr. Kieran Cashell, which is full of philosophical and metaphorical meanings, it is obvious that these type of paintings drawy me in. They do not simply be, they have an effect on the human side of every being. they are powerful and evocative, which is what art should be, in my opinion. I dont do abstract or experimental meaningless purely visually stimulating art, it is just not the way my brain works. I like art with serious and deep meaning behind it, art with an impact and that has the ability to change peoples thinking and make can pull emotions for an even emotionless person.

This image of a child in a military style jacket with a bandage across his or her head covering their forehead and eyes implies that he or she has been damaged in someway, and the jacket suggests the obvious.. 

the child is holding a deep black heavy looking hand gun and is pointing it at a childlike animated character which is cast in a blue shadow, and has its hands in a praying position looking wide eyed, dressed in clothes which are similar to that of a school girl.

It is obvious what Helnwein is trying to point out here, in the black space of nothing he addresses the profound effects of war on the purely innocent

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.
Helnwein’s work is visually reminiscent of both old master painting and contemporary cinematography. His use of lighting and mis-en-scene often creates an atmosphere of angst or acquiesence. It is the artist’s painterly treatment of unspeakable acts that affords the viewer just enough comfort to contemplate the horrors that he depicts and it is his masterful handling of his painted images that re-inforces the quiet, intrinsic beauty of his subjects.

The Murmur of the Innocents 14 2010

233 cm x 349 cm

mixed media (oil and acrylic on canvas)