Helnwein - The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
SF680
Associate "The Darker Side of Playland" Childhood Imagery from the
Logan Collection SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART September 1st -
January 2nd, 2001
http://www.helnwein.com/texte/international_texts/artikel_109.html
THE DARKER SIDE OF PLAYLAND
Other works in the exhibition present the dark side of cartoon
characters. The prevailing narrative structure of many cartoons is a
cycle of one's character's unrelenting attacks on another. Yet the
violence of these scenarios is subverted and humor achieved by the
lack of any permanent injury to the victim and the gleeful nonchalance
of the adversary even during the most aggressive assault. Static
representations of wounded or menacing cartoon characters can expose
the violence and eliminate the humorous punch line. In Gottfried
Helnwein's painting Mickey (plate 24), Mickey Mouse's physical
features, which usually contribute to his appeal become a thin veneer
of looming attack. Blown up to a monster scale and rendered in an
austere gray palette, Mickey's smile is deceptive.
In Machine Gunned Minnie (plate 21), Joyce Pensato inflicts physical
damage on the image of Minnie Mouse by shooting the paper with
bullets. But Minnie is not as resilient as her exuberant gesture would
indicate her charcoal outline seems to fade into the gray background,
as if she were slowly disappearing. Furthermore, as works on paper, it
has an inherently ephemeral existence. But even Porky Pig, painted in
the more durable medium of enamel on canvas (plate 22), is merely a
ghostly black silhouette dripping down the white background, as if it
were melting or bleeding.
William Cotton's painting Mortimer (plate 23), is more psychologically
than viscerally disturbing. This painting is part of a group of works
Cotton did based on things he found at flea markets. The artist's
working title for Mortimer was Ugly Mouse, a description of the
stuffed animal dominating the composition. With its missing eye,
tattered für, and pants fallen down, the enlarged Mouse has a haunting
presence. The final title refers to the figure in the lower left,
Mortimer Snerd, the dummy made famous in the 1940s by the
ventriloqist-comedian Edgar Bergen. An inanimate figure equipped with
a human voice and gestures can be frightening or eerie. Adding an
autobiographical note, the artist inserted the hoola hoop that appears
at the lower right as a memory of a childhood nightmare.
Mice are ubiquitous in child imagery, perhaps because of the
commercial success and global popularity of Mickey Mouse or perhaps
because of their disproportionate physical features. The Japanese
artist Takashi Murakami has developed his own cartoon character alter
ego that looks like a mouse. Known as Mr. DOB, the figure vaguely
resembles a pygmy doll that the artist once saw in a toy store, but
more recognizably his enlarge black ears, white face, and gloved paws
make him look like a cousin of Mickey Mouse. However, representations
of DOB spell out his name across his head the D and B are written on
his ears, and the circle of his face inserts an O in between so as
not to confuse this character with the more famous rodent.
Helnwein in Artweek:
Review
'THE DARKER SIDE OF PLAYLAND: CHILDHOOD IMAGERY FROM THE LOGAN
COLLECTION' AT SFMOMA
http://www.helnwein.com/texte/international_texts/artikel_273.html
San Fracisco Museum of Modern Art
In 'The Darker Side of Playland', the endearing cuteness of beloved
toys and cartoon characters turns menacing and monstrous.
Much of the work has the quality of childhood nightmares. In those
dreams, long before any adult understanding of the specific pains and
evils that live holds, the familiar and comforting objects and images
of a child's world are rent with something untoward.
For children, not understanding what really to be afraid of, these
dreams portend some pain and disturbance lurking into the landscape.
Perhaps nothing in the exhibition exemplifies this better than
Gottfried Helnwein's 'Mickey'.
His portrait of Disney's favotite mouse occupies an entire wall of the
gallery;
rendered from an oblique angle, his jaunty, ingenuous visage looks
somehow sneaky and suspicious.
His broad smile, encasing a row of gleaming teeth, seems more a snarl
or leer.
This is Mickey as Mr. Hyde, his hidden other self now disturbingly
revealed.
Helnwein's Mickey is painted in shades of gray,
as if pictured on an old black-and-white TV set. We are meant to be
transported to the flickering edges of our own childhood memories in a
time imaginably more blameless, crime-less and guiltless.
But Mickey's terrifying demeanor hints of things to come. ...
More articles about the art of Gottfried Helnwein and the Comic
culture:
http://www.helnweincomic.homestead.com/
COMIC RELIEF
Negotiating Identity for a new Generation
museums-tour starting at the Pittsburg Museum of Art
Pittsburg Museum of Art
The Carnegy - Mellon Foundation
http://www.helnwein.de/news/update/artikel_472.html
A variety of press, info and essays on Helnwein:
http://www.helnwein.org/texts/international_texts/all/index.html