Gottfried Helnwein

The first artist that I'm reflecting on is Gottfried Helnwein. Here is a quick summary of his life in art. He is an Irish - Austrian artist, photographer, painter, installation and performance artist, He is primarily concerned with psychological and sociological anxiety, historical issues and political topics. His work is often considered provocative and controversial. The human condition as his subject matter had emerged and stayed consistent throughout his career. His photographs, 'Self - Portrait' 1987 and 'Ecstasy of Saint Theresa' 1987 are very visual and can be disturbing to some extent with their string colours, strong subject matter and the cold materials used.

Some of my reflections on GH: I relate my work to his a lot because of his subject matter: The Human Condition. I see how his controversial photographs show how raw the human body can be and how easily it can be manipulated and destroyed. It really brings to light how shocking and permanent the effects of plastic surgery can be to the body. Once you go under these procedures there is no going back. The red powder symbolizes blood and the blue symbolizes a cold corpse.