Gottfried Helnwein is an artist of some repute, courting controversy with unsettling images of disfigurement and treatment of taboo subjects like that of Nazism.
His profile is measured also by his portrait photographs, which feature an array of household names from the worlds of music, literature and politics.
His move into landscape subject matter is, by comparison, somewhat tame. Nevertheless, the work is still extremely ambitious, both in terms of scale and rendering - some paintings are seven metres long and all are so realistic that they are nearly indistinguishable from photographs.
Consequently they cannot fail but to strike a chord, as you marvel at the skill involved in creating such vivid and realistic landscape views. So much so that Fáilte Ireland is surely gaining free advertising, as many will be inspired to venture out and experience these places first hand.
Helnwein re-creates theses vistas using a composite of photographic sourceswhich cram multiple focal points into a single view. The surfaces are absolutely flawless with practically no evidence of the artist's brushwork.
Studying the surface is absorbing, as the viewer is immersed in the detail as much as seductive wider views of the vast, undulating topography.
Helnwein's use of a fine brush and varnish might be the techniques that help establish the illusion.

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