2002 Helnwein establishes a studio in downtown Los Angeles.
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Helnwein opens his new studio in Los Angeles with a retrospective of his work.
"The Los Angeles Times" writes about this event: "When Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein opened a show of his paintings recently, celebrities crowded his downtown studio. Leonardo DiCaprio rubbed Elbows with Marilyn Manson. Beck chatted with Kevin Smith. Mena Suvari stopped for a photo op, and Sean Penn lent his cool. " ...

Helnwein works on a series of American landscapes, first work "Death Valley I" (Death Valley, California, 120x774 cm).

"Downtown" (The American paintings II), One man show at Modernism Gallery in San Francisco.

Helnwein at the Lead White Gallery in Dublin, "VII" (seven), group show.

Henwein starts collaborating with Marilyn Manson on a several visual art projects.
Beginning of the friendship with Marilyn Manson. ...

Marilyn Manson and painter Gottfried Helnwein have joined forces to collaborate on a series of creations

"In the Blink of an Eye - Photo Art", (Augenblick - Foto Kunst), group show.
Museum Kunst der Gegenwart, Collection Essl, Klosterneuburg/Vienna

Sean Penn visits Helnwein in his L.A, studio and invites him to join in a collaboration on several Film- and video projects. .
Beginning of the friendship with Sean Penn, who said in an interview: "Well, the world is a haunted house, and Helnwein at times is our tour guide through it. A lot of it is the way he's approached life. And it doesn't take someone knowing him to know that. You take one look at the paintings and you say "this guy has been around." You can't sit in a closet - and create this. This level of work is earned."
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Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, „Meisterwerke der Fotografie: Face to Face", Portraitfotografie aus der Sammlung der DG- Bank.

San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, „Portrait Obscured“.

Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber and William S. Farish, American Ambassador to Great Britain, visit Gottfried Helnwein at his studio in Ireland.

Beck stays at Helnwein's castle in Ireland.
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Nicolas Cage visits the studio and acquires several works of Helnwein, amongst them "Red Gun".
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Arnold Schwarzenegger visits Helnwein's studio in Los Angeles.
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Sir Ben Kingsley visits Helnwein's studio in Los Angeles.
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2001 Kilkenny Arts Festival, Ireland.
One man show at the Butler House and Installation in the city of Kilkenny at the annual Arts Festival, with large digital prints of children's faces and monochromatic blue scenes at the facades of houses in the medieval town center
"Ephiphany I", 8x12m (25x36 feet), on the wall of Kilkenny Castle. ...

Gottfried Helnwein at the Kilkenny Arts Festival 2001

Painting - Austrian Artists now..
Albertina, Vienna and the Museum of Fine Art, Budapest

Albertina, Wien und Museum der Bildenden Künste, Budapest, „Austrian Artists now“.

Stage design and costumes for Strawinsky's "Rake's progress" at the State Opera in Hamburg (Hamburgische Staatsoper).
Director: Jurgen Flimm, coductor: Ingo Metzmacher ...

"Between Earth and Heaven, New Classical Movements in the Art of Today".
Museum of Modern Art, Oostende, Belgium. Installation "Fall of the Angels", digital print, 7X10m.