Does it move me?

~ Live & Learn

When I look at a work of art I ask myself: does it inspire me, does it touch and move me, do I learn something from it, does it startle or amaze me…do I get excited, upset? That is the test any artwork has to pass: can it create an emotional impact on a human being even when he has no education or any information about art? I’ve always had a problem with art that you can only understand if you have a degree in art history, and I have a problem with theories. Most of them are bullshit anyway. Real art is intense, enchanting, exciting and unsettling; it has a quality and magic that you cannot explain. Art is not logic, and if you want to experience it, your mind and rational thinking will be of little help. Art is something…that you can only experience with your senses, your heart, your soul.

— Gottfried Helnwein, from “Interview with Gottfried Helnwein“.

Helnwein, 69, is a visual artist who lives and works in Ireland and Los Angeles. He has worked as a painter, draftsman, photographer, muralist, sculptor, installation and performance artist. His work is concerned primarily with psychological and sociological anxiety, historical issues and political topics. His subject matter is the human condition. The metaphor for his art is dominated by the image of the child, particularly the wounded child, scarred physically and emotionally from within.

Notes: Art by Gottfried Helnwein on Pinterest by Rocio Jarabo 1; Quote via TheMindMovement.

 

41 thoughts on “Does it move me?”

  2. very true. art is all about emotion. each year, i show the kinders a few pieces of famous art: mona lisa, etc., and ask them to look at them and to tell me about the picture. i tell them nothing about the artist or any info about the painting beforehand. the responses are always amazing.

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  4. Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
    ‘Real art is intense, enchanting, exciting and unsettling; it has a quality and magic that you cannot explain.’
    Art is so very subjective. It evokes a number of feelings. It’s very personal … ‘Beauty is in the eye if the beholder’ …

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  6. I’ve been fortunate to visit many art museums around the world, often in the company of trained artists. Helnwein’s words sum up my experience about those who have theories and stories about the art. Those mind-games only took me away from my own experience of the art.
    A juicy, visceral, enlivening response to art is like time travel or teleportation – where the artist’s emotion is connecting to mine. That’s art!

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      1. It’s getting even better and now I understand the subtle tones and the ‘painter’…. I was thinking of ‘working giant photos’…. incredible and also nearly disturbing in its perfection. I’m going to say it again: WOW.

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    3. Karen, is your gifted friend painting from photos? Such talent is nearly unbelievable. The person is literally jumping out of the screen, the fruit arrangements are throwing their juices and perfumes out of the frame at you…. there is such abondant talent out there!

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  12. Powerful – and so is your response and the wisdom you bring to the image(s) and to us. You continue to inspire and challenge perceptions and I find this really helpful atm in my own state of grief. Many thanks!

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  14. His hyper-realist paintings, Wow. His talent is amazing..
    I am glad to learn that he is a champion for innocent child and others who bear pain, either physical or physiological. He respects children, He wants others to be aware (educated) of societies ills. He wants individuals to respect each other.
    Helnwein has four children with his wife Renate: Cyril, Mercedes, Ali Elvis and Wolfgang Amadeus, who are all artists. <<< and I will assume his children are very talented and caring as well…

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  16. I don’t believe I have an artistic ability to paint.. I can barely draw lol! But art is important because I want to paint that picture in people’s minds. Every word should be a different color, the flow should be the brush that methodically makes it a work of art.

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