Abo Underrätteiser, Finland, October 01, 1998
 
The child has grown into a world famous artist. But he has carried his questions with him. Today opens a large retrospective exhibition of Helnwein's art in Waino Aaltonen Museum of Art in Turku. The exhibition contains aquarels, oil paintings, drawings and photographs. They have often caused controversies by dealing with subjects that are all too sensitive.Gottfried Helnwein, Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art, Turku, Finnland, 1998 Taide, Finland, April 30, 1998
by Hannu Rinne
The exhibition in the WA Museum of Art by the Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein does not make you happy, but it does feel good - in a masochistic way. With his works Helnwein proves that under a sophisticated facade this world is a wretched place to live in. In an interview he says: "I know that individuals are poorly treated on this planet. They are being harmed and subdued. And all this is covered by optimistic propaganda. Far before I began painting I felt that humanity was in a dire state. The pain reaches out to everyone, even though it is rarely spoken of. Nonetheless everyone wants to overcome the pain, to transcend it."Gottfried Helnwein, One-man show, Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art, Turku, FinnlandFLASH ART, The World's Leading Art Magazine, January 01, 1998
by Reena Jana
Austrian-born artist Gottfried Helnwein is a brave, often overlooked, and unfairly compared virtuoso of versatility. In his work, he forces us to confront, via his visual wit, brio, and candor, the human face of violence and angst. The recent solo retrospective of over 400 works on view at the Marble Palace, the contemporary wing of the Russian State Museum in St. Petersburg, proved Helnwein a master of many forms: from painting to installation, from photography to illustration, from sculpture to performance. His flexibility is so impressive that he almost seems a hoax.Gottfried Helnwein, Retrospective at the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, 1998"Ludwig Museum in the Russian Museum" catalogue, 1998
by Evgenija Petrova, Aleksandr Borovskij
The human face, in particular the child's face, is of great fascination for Helnwein and consequently accounts for one of his central pictorial subjects. The monumental face of a little girl which is introduced here is, as it were, representative of all children. In our adult society oriented towards profit and success, children can almost be described as a fringe group, their interests indeed being observed in a comparatively modest fashion. Against this background, this monumentalizing of the face in connection with the hyperrealistic style of painting is to be understood as an oppressive irritation of our customary experience of perception. Gottfried Helnwein, Ludwig Museum in the Russian Museum, 1998mtv.com, April 04, 1997
by mtv news online
MTV: Sigismondi and Bowie both acknowledge lifting the imagery in his "Dead Man Walking" video from the work of the English painter Francis Bacon.The look of Floria's most noted video to date, though, [QuickTime,1 MB] "Beautiful People," although it owes a debt to Austrian painter Gottfried Helnwein, was pretty much the inspiration of the artist, Marilyn Manson. Gottfried Helnwein, Flora Sigismondi discusses her dark aesthetic, mtv.com, 1997Helnwein Monograph, the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, January 01, 1997
by Alexander Borovsky
Curator for Contemporary Art at the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg 
I'll never forget the sensation I had at the unveiling of Gottfried Helnwein's "Kindskopf" in the Russian Museum. And not just because this enormous canvas (six metres in height, four in breadth), well-known from reproductions, seemed to operate in a whole new way in the real, quasi-monumental space of the museum's "Concrete Hall", originally intended for the demonstration of gigantic sculptural compositions. I realised that I was looking at the inner content of this innovative picture from a whole new point of view.Gottfried Helnwein, Retrospective, the State Russian Museum, St. PetersburgHelnwein Monograph, the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, January 01, 1997
by Peter Selz
Professor Emeritus, Department of Art History, University of California, Berkeley. Former Curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and founding director of the Berkeley Art Museum. 
Much like Joseph Beuys, who opened new, unexpected, and far-reaching spheres for art, Gottfried Helnwein has made works that extend beyond the art scene into the social and political realm. Like his predecessor, he has moved beyond the realm of pure aesthetics, engaging his art into the everyday world. Furthermore his principal interest is not to express personal feelings and emotions, but to make statements that go beyond the individual. He wants to see his work not trapped on the walls of museums and galleries, but revealed in the public domain. He expects his work to intervene in the social sphere and to have a direct impact on the life of his time.Gottfried Helnwein, Retrospective at the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, 1997Helnwein Monograph, The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, January 01, 1997
by Klaus Honnef
Curator for Contemporary Art at Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn 
Helnwein - A Concept Artist before the Turn of the Millennium. Is it sheer coincidence that Gottfried Helnwein, the Austrian artist, created a portrait of both the German and the American? Coincidence, that he captured Warhol as a disturbing spectre on photograph, but painted Beuys? And that he then photographed the painted portrait of Beuys in the hands of Arno Breker, Adolf Hitler's favourite sculptor? There are weighty reasons for considering Helnwein the legitimate heir to Beuys and Warhol.Gottfried Helnwein, Retrospective at the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, 1997Mind Pollen, ART PART 1, January 01, 1997
by Russ Kick
It's been said that a great portraitist can capture his subject's essence on film.If you've never come across a photographer who's lived up to that standard, check out Helnwein. He turns our cultural idols into flesh and blood human beings, whether they like it or not. Gottfried Helnwein, Mind Pollen, Art Part 1, 1997The Japan Times, November 09, 1996
by Loren Edelson
The Gottfried Helnwein seen on the poster advertising his show and the Gottfried Helnwein viewed in person seem to be a study in contradictions. With his head bandaged and eyes literally pierced by two forks, the poster Helnwein shatters glass with his seemingly torturous cries. In person, Helnwein's taut skin is unblemished; his personality, approachable and warm. But as he begins to talk, it becomes clear that he is indeed the creator of the madman.Gottfried Helnwein, One-man show at Hokkaido's Petersburg Museum, 1996
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