Wednesday, 12 September 2012

Gottfried Helnwein

"It is the 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 the master of suprised recognition."
  - William S. Burroughs

"Gottfried Helnwein looks more like a rock star than an internationally acclaimed artist. Dressed all in black, with a bandanna around his head and dark glasses hiding his eyes, he resembles, in a superficial way, Bono. Like Bono, he is concerned about the most troubling issues of our times: violence, inhumanity and oppression.
There is a cinematic quality to all of Helnwein's works, which seem to be projected on a wide screen. These "stilled cinematic moments," as Crocker curator Diana Daniels calls them, are powerfully affecting. "He deals with difficult subjects in a way that isn't propagandistic," Daniels said. "It's an open-ended way of dealing with historic subjects that are in danger of slipping away from us." Many of the images are very disturbing, and the museum has issued a warning that some images may be challenging for sensitive or younger viewers. But the show is a powerful one, posing questions we all need to contemplate."
 
The Disasters of War 10 2007
187 cm x 120 cm
oil and acrylic on canvas
In Memory of Francisco de Goya

 
 



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