San Francisco Chronical, June 09, 1992
by Barnaby Conrad III
 
Gottfried Helnwein, An artist reminds society of its pastFrankfurt, Germany. It was night on the Autobahn and I was going to see Gottfried Helnwein, an artist known as "The Razor-Blade Rembrandt." The artist's assistant, Heinz, was pushing the new Mercedes to 100 miles an hour. This unnerving high-speed delivery, on a highway built by Hitler, seemed an appropriate prelude to meeting an Austrian whose art is a biopsy of post-war Germany, with references to resurgent fascism, mass insanity, suicidal depression and childhood trauma. Gottfried Helnwein, San Francisco Chronical, 1992 Kronenzeitung, Wien, 20. Februar 1992
von Karlheinz Roschitz
TANZ 92 im Ronacher: Start mit Kresniks "Macbeth". Sie lieben Schauder, Alpträume, Schocks. Wen wundert's, dass beide bei Shakespeares "Macbeth" zu einem wahren Höhenflug blutiger Phantasie abheben: Österreichs Schockmaler Gottfried Helnwein und der Kärntner Johann Kresnik, Bremens Tanztheaterchef und international bejubelter Choreograf, zeigten nun im Ronacher ihren Bremer "Macbeth". Ein Erfolg für "TANZ 92" - Organisator Gerhard Brunner.Gottfried Helnwein, stage and costumes for Shakepeare's "MACBETH", 1992Helnwein Faces, Edition Stemmle, January 01, 1992
by Heiner Müller
poet 
How can a friendly person like Helnwein stand making his - excellent - painting into a mirror of the terrors of this century? Or is it that he can't stand not doing it? Does his mirror just reflect the attitude of the century: Terror without end is better than an ending in terror...Gottfried Helnwein, Helnwein Faces, Edition Stemmle, 1992Helnwein Faces, Edition Stemmle, January 01, 1992
by William S. Burroughs
poet 
It is 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 a master of surprised recognition. Gottfried Helnwein, Helnwein Faces, Edition Stemmle, 1992Catalog, Museum of lower Austria, May 26, 1991
by Peter Zawrel
Chief curator, Museum of lower Austria 
The auratic face of a child, six metres high, four metres wide, hanging in the triumphal arch of a medieval church, surrounded by dozens of canvases in the standard size of 200 by 140 cm that are mounted on the church's pillars and walls show heads and fantasy creatures which only on closer inspection may be easily recognized as children's drawings - once more Helnwein upsets traditional structures of perception in a number of ways, including the expectations that visitors have of a Helnwein exhibition. This is signalled already by the title "KINDSKOPF", which in addition to being a reference to the theme depicted (the head of a child) refers to the ironically serious self-representation of the artist (in German "Kindskopf" is a somewhat condescending colloquialism for an adult acting in childish ways), similar to Helnwein's earlier catalogue title "Subhuman" ("Untermensch") of 1988.Gottfried Helnwein, Installation at the Niederösterreichisches Landesmuseum in the Minoritenkirche Krems/Stein"KINDSKOPF" catalogue, 1991
by Peter Gorsen
At the same time that he painted pictures of injured and abused children, from 1969, around 1971/72 the bandaged child became the most important figure next to the artist himself and the martyr allied with him in his actions. Gottfried Helnwein, "Kindskopf", Niederösterreichisches Landesmuseum in der Minoritenkirche Krems/Stein, 1991MIZUE,Tokyo, Japan, June 01, 1989
by Toshiharu Ito
Artist of inner Turmoil.Gottfried Helnwein's works from the 1980's are represented by the self-portraits in his "Black Mirror" series. However, these works reach far beyond the boundaries of the ordinary self-portrait. They reflect the inner wants and desperation which lies within the viewer's own self. Helnwein points out the new form of the modern self-portrait which involves the creator and viewer alike. Gottfried Helnwein, MIZUE,Tokyo, Japan, 198902.Jan.1989 Katalog, Folkwang Museum Essen, 02. Januar 1989
von Hubertus Froning
Curator for Drawings and Graphic Arts, Folkwang 
Wenn wir von Helnwein sagen, er habe von aussen nach innen gemalt, dann heisst das,daß seine minutiöse und bohrend-insistierende Arbeitsweise, die die geschaute Wirklichkeit brutal interpretiert, eine hinter den Dingen im Verborgenen liegende Welt aufzudecken versucht.Gottfried Helnwein, one man show, Folkwang Museum Essen, Germany, 1998"Ninth November Night" catalogue, November 09, 1988
by Reinhold Mißelbeck
Curator for Photography and new media, Museum Ludwig cologne 
It was to our good fortune that Gottfried Helnwein also strove to break away from the museum and gallery sector in order to communicate with a larger public. This appeared on a grand scale on the site between the cathedral and Museum Ludwig, and at a time of "photokina", with its hundreds of thousands of visitors. The 100 metre picture wall did not fail to hit its mark: it induced bewilderment as well as aggressiveness. After a few days numerous pictures had been slashed, one even stolen. Gottfried Helnwein saw the exhibition as a process which would continue and be reflected in later presentations. The pictures were not renewed, but patched up, so that this reminder of the persecution of Jewish people would bear the traces of a lack of insight and understanding in the present day.Gottfried Helnwein, INSTALLATION, "NINTH NOVEMBER NIGHT", AT THE MUSEUM LUDWIG, cologne"Ninth November Night" catalogue, November 09, 1988
by Charles-Henri Favrod
"Ninth November Night" Catalogue 
"In the struggle against the Jew, I defend the acts of God!" Those were Hitler's words in Mein Kampf.I admire the work of Gottfried Helnwein a great deal. This photographic testimony encourages reflection and provokes the examination of conscience, which is necessary for every one of us where racism is concerned. The laceration of the portraits is proof of the fact that we cannot be indifferent to the warning of the "final solution". I consider myself lucky to be able to exhibit this gallery of memories in its present form in Lausanne. Gottfried Helnwein, Installation, "Ninth November Night", at the Museum Ludwig, 1988
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