Mercedes Helnwein


Mercedes Helnwein is an artist, writer and filmmaker.

Career

Art

Mercedes Helnwein's large-scale drawings, most of which are done with black pencil, colored pencils, or pastels.
Helnwein's art debuted in 2003, with her first group exhibition hosted in Downtown Los Angeles by actor Jason Lee.
Mercedes Helnwein contributed art to the 2006 Beck album, The Information.
In 2010 Damien Hirst acquired the entire work of Helnwein's "Whistling Past the Graveyard" show in London.

Writing

In 2004, her travelogue, "Devil Got Religion," covered the 15-day road trip with Alex Prager and Beth Riesgraf for their "America Motel" installation.
Her debut novel, The Potential Hazards of Hester Day, was released in February 2008 by Simon & Schuster.

Film

In 2011 Mercedes Helnwein directed an art/fashion film for the AW 2011 collection of UK based fashion label Orla Kiely. She worked again with Orla Kiely for their SS 2012 collection film.

Personal life

Mercedes Helnwein was born in Vienna, Austria. Her father is Austro-Irish artist Gottfried Helnwein. She and her brothers, Cyril, Ali, and Wolfgang Amadeus, often modeled for their father’s work as children.
Mercedes, like her parents and siblings, is a Scientologist. Helnwein has stated that Scientology is "just a tool you can use in life. People view it in a strange way. There’s lots of false stuff circulating about it, but it’s a totally separate thing from my art.”

Selected reviews