Holy-day Art Preview for Candelmas | Art by Gottfried Helnwein

AOA NEWS
By Tahlib

Epiphany III (Presentation at the Temple) 1998
210 cm x 310 cm, mixed media (oil and acrylic on canvas), Barry Friedman, New York

GERMANY - Gottfried Helnwein's "Epiphany III (Presentation at the Temple)" of facially scarred war veterans grouped round the limp figure of a child lying on a table with her legs dangling down lifelessly from the knees. The controversial German artist has never run from explorations of difficult subjects, and shaped by the horrors of World War II is the work of an artist who struggles with the world of war crimes, Catholocism, disfiguration and the Holocaust. There is no sense of grand ceremony in Helnwein's Presentation, only an unemotional look at what mankind can do to innocence. The Holy Day of Candelmas, the Presentation of Christ at the Temple is celebrated on February 2, 2012.