Andreas Maeckler
"PAINTINGS SHOULD BE LIKE ROCK MUSIC"
Conversations between Gottfried Helnwein and Andreas Maeckler
192 pages, 41 black and white and 15 colored illustrations, sewed, EUR 13,-
Publishing Company C.H. Beck, München 1. edition 1992. (1-10.000 copies)

ILLUSTRATIONS FOR MILLIONS:
HELNWEIN SUPPLIES ANSWERS
A detailled biography: his childhood in petty-bourgeois Vienna after the War, enthusiasm for Donald Duck and Elvis, provocative actions and self-lacerations, drug excesses. The discovery of the trivial as the most potent form of expression in our time. Art goes Rock'n roll. But also, the mistreated child, the lacerated man as visual accusation against our cursed indifference. For four days Andreas Maeckler questioned Gottfried Helnwein; the result is an exciting book that renders visible much truth about ourselves and our world.

KULTUR NEWS, July 1992

Donald Duck was his first, Elvis Presley his second "revel-ation". Gottfried Helnwein reveals how he became what he now is: a partisan of trivial art and anti-culture. "Paintings should be like Rock music", is the name of the book. (Beck, 191 pages, 57 illustrations, 24 DM) The painter of stark, often provocative pictures was interviewed by Andreas Maeckler. The result is exciting to read from beginning to end. Helnwein expresses himself in an outspoken and direct manner, without letting himself be drawn into profound theories. It is interesting to note that he confesses not to be able to say why he paints a picture. "I have never met an artist who thinks about this while he is working. And whenever he does comment about this, he must be lying."

MÜNCHNER MERKUR, June 4. 1992