Mercedes Helnwein facts for kids

Mercedes Helnwein (born November 12, 1979) is a talented artist, writer, and filmmaker. She was born in Vienna, Austria, and now mostly lives and works in Los Angeles, USA.

Early Life

Growing Up

Mercedes Helnwein grew up in Vienna, Austria. Her father is a famous artist named Gottfried Helnwein. When Mercedes and her brothers, Cyril, Ali, and Wolfgang Amadeus, were children, they often posed for their father's artworks. Her father's art sometimes showed strong images, but Mercedes and her siblings were always encouraged to be creative and express themselves freely. This helped Mercedes develop her own unique art style.

Art

Her Artistic Journey

Mercedes Helnwein did not go to a special art school. However, as she grew up, she met many famous artists like Andy Warhol and Keith Haring through her father. This helped her learn a lot about the art world.

What Her Art Looks Like

Helnwein creates large drawings, often using black pencils, colored pencils, or pastels. Her art often looks like dramatic scenes from independent movies.

Exhibitions and Shows

Mercedes Helnwein's art was first shown in the year 2000. One of her first group shows was organized by actor Jason Lee in Los Angeles. In 2007, she had her first solo art show in New York City. It was called Untitled (Self-Portrait With Ribbon) and was held at Bespoke Gallery.

She has had more than ten solo art shows and over a dozen group shows. In 2005, a famous art collector named Damien Hirst bought some of her art collections. These collections were called "East of Eden," "Strange Days," and "Whistling Past the Graveyard." They were later shown at A Gallery in London.

The The Molesworth Gallery in Ireland showed Helnwein's art in solo exhibits in 2007 and again in 2009. Her 2009 show was called "Whistling past the graveyard." In 2010, her series of drawings called "Temptation to be Good" was shown at the Merry Karnowsky Gallery. She had another solo show there in 2012, called "Make It Dark."

In 2014, The Molesworth Gallery showed her exhibit "No Way Home." They also released a special book about her art with the same name. In 2017, the Edward Hopper House held a solo exhibit of her oil pastel works called "Chaos Theory."

Mercedes Helnwein also created art for stickers that came with Beck's 2006 music album, The Information.

Writing

Her Books

In 2004, Mercedes Helnwein wrote a travel story called "Devil Got Religion." It was about a 15-day road trip she took with Alex Prager and Beth Riesgraf for an art project.

In 2008, her first novel, The Potential Hazards of Hester Day, was published by Simon & Schuster. She also wrote a novel called Slingshot in 2021. When talking about Slingshot, Helnwein said she finds the "secrets of suburbia" and how things can seem "fake" on the surface very interesting.