HELMUT PREISS

Often compared to Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso, Helmut Preiss was born in Vienna Austria in 1941. He attended the Viennese Academy of Art at the age of 16 where he studied the painting techniques of the great masters and later used his skills as an artist to start an advertising agency with his brother, which he co owned and operated from ages 22 to 47.

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During his time with the agency, Helmut established trademark logos for many Austrian and German companies and illustrated over 60 children's books.  by 1988, Preiss was ready to become an artist, full time.

 

His works have been bought and collected all over the world by Elizabeth Taylor, Madonna, Priscilla Presley Michael Jackson, Gianni Versace, and Bill and Hillary Clinton, to name a few, along with many major corporations around the globe.

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Although Helmut Preiss created his art to be shared with the world, he was very exclusive when it came to the showing and selling of it. He once said that his works were like children to him and he often developed sentimental attachments to his drawings and paintings. He preferred meeting and spending time with the people buying his art, to ensure that it was going to a good home.

 

Singer, songwriter, designer and ad man, Preiss held his first major exhibition as an artist in Munich's Haus der Bildenden Kunstler in 1973. His work was interpreted as surrealism, but Preiss referred to it as "lyrical naturalism", in contrast to the Viennese school of fantastic realists." Invitations to exhibit his art across Europe soon followed.

 

Preiss recorded an album in Munich, under the alias "The Rocking Painter", which includes music by Robert Ponger, of "Rock Me Amadeus" fame and Giorgio Moroder, who became quite well known in the disco and cinema genres. The album was released in 1980 and Preiss was dubbed "The Austrian Elvis". He performed live multi media shows, which included performance art. Although he had a great time doing live stage shows and singing, painting was his true passion so, he broke off his affair with song and went back to his true love of painting.

 

By the mid 80's, Preiss had sold over 400 oil paintings and thousands of mixed media works, worldwide.  In 1985, he signed an exclusive contract, that proved to be designed to steal his paintings from him, including dozens of oils and hundreds of mixed media works on paper. After winning his art pieces back from the wealthy, would be robber, Preiss had a successful exhibition in Beverly Hills, California and then returned to Vienna and his advertising agency. He remained in the agency for one year and in Vienna for another two years, before returning to the United States for good. 

 

When he came back, Preiss was shocked to see the turmoil  America was in. Having been born in one of the most tragic times in history, Helmut tended to stray away from darker subject matter, focusing more on classical and fantastical themes with brilliant color schemes, with the exception of his series' "The Holocaust" and "The Alphabetical Disorder of Modern Times". "The Alphabetical Disorder of Modern Times", was created for Bill Clinton, after he had taken over the Bush administration. It is an exposé in art as critical satire, regarding the problems that were escalating in our country. From homelessness, drug abuse and mental illness, to America's obsession with youth, fame, sex and the growing obsession with physical perfection.

 

While he was in Los Angeles, Preiss collaborated with Ben Weinstein of  the acclaimed Heritage Bookshop  on Melrose Avenue, for an exhibition titled, "When Books and Art Merge",  for which Preiss had painted classic themed paintings, relating to famous, rare first editions novels, such as, "The Sea of Cortez", "Gone With the Wind", "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Great Gatsby, among others. The event was noted in Entertainment Today as "a great, star studded event". Among the many guests who attended were Corey Feldman, Jennifer Tilly and Lou Diamond Phillips to name a few.

 

A pivotal factor in Helmut's career was his meeting of Dick Zimmerman. Dick Zimmerman is most famous for shooting the cover of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album. Dick was also lucky enough to have been invited to shoot wedding photos of the great Salvador Dali and his wife Gala. Sharing a common interest, Preiss and Zimmerman hit it off  splendidly and even decided to collaborate on a project they called "Synergy". The mix of Zimmerman's stunning photography and Helmut's brilliant paintings, proved to be a perfect harmony.

 

Because he was so often compared to Dali and Picasso, Preiss had to dig deep to find his own voice. Upon settling in Florida in 1992, he realized that painting in oil would have to change. The humidity in Florida didn't allow the paint to dry fast enough for Preiss, and his Acrylics on Canvas were born. Helmut was an extremely prolific artist, often working on four or five paintings at a time, in addition to his works on paper. Preiss truly believed that he had found his voice with his "Mechanical Men" series. Being classically trained in the style of such master painters as Rembrandt, Velasquez, Bosch, El Greco, Vermeer and Van der Weyden, it was not easy for him to find a "return to innocence". He drew inspiration from his own colorful painting pallets, which he had turned into brilliant collages. These collages would later become the model for his artistic revolution and  new style of painting. 

 

He loved toying with the abstract. One thing you will notice when you have the pleasure viewing a Helmut Preiss original, is that very often, there are hidden treasures within the works. They open up the subconscious and images inside of images can be discovered. The play is subtle, but definitely there.

 

In 2004 Preiss had an exhibition of his "Mechanical Men" at the Agora Gallery in New York's Chelsea art district and was invited to show his paintings at the 2005 Biennale in Florence, Italy.

Unfortunately, Helmut Preiss succumbed to congestive heart failure in 2009, leaving behind a legacy of fantastic images.

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for this incredible master painter. His works, like the man himself, are Bold, Brilliant, Passionate, Colorful, Whimsical, Enigmatic, Exciting and Ever Evolving. All of Helmut's colors are hand blended, so the computer cannot do justice to much of the fine detail and powerful color in his paintings. Especially with regard to his blues....AMAZING!!! Still.... we invite you to view the pages, ask questions and enjoy the art of HELMUT PREISS!