The performances and works of art by Gottfried Helnwein (*1948 in Vienna) spark off discussions time after time. His painful images deliberately deny the viewer taking any comfort in art, pose uncomfortable questions, and provide no answers.

Many people see Helnwein as Andy Warhol’s successor, as the incorruptible chronicler of the times. To mark his sixty-fifth birthday, this retrospective presents all of the stations of his artistic development—from landmark works of photorealism such as Peinlich (Embarrassing) from 1971, whose combination of the picture of a child and references to comics established important thematic strands early on, and 1982’s Self-Portrait (Blackout), which achieved fame worldwide as the cover of a record by the Scorpions, to more recent works, such as the disturbing series Disasters of War, which focuses on severely injured girls.

Exhibition schedule: Albertina, Vienna, May 25–October 25, 2013