Helmut Koller

My paintings are iconic portraits of sentient beings, supreme beauties without a reference of time and space. They are esoteric manipulations of nature, vehicles for exercises in classical color harmony – visual games. Do not let the esthetics fool you. These paintings are powerful symbols for not agreeing with how things are.

Helmut Koller is mainly known for his colorful, bold and festive paintings of animals which are collected on four continents, America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Koller grew up in the beautiful Austrian countryside. After completing his training as a photographer and a brief professional detour to Germany he became the official photographer for the Vienna State Opera back home in Austria.  For seven years he photographed superstars like Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Leonard Bernstein and Rudolf Nurejev. Within that period Helmut Koller co-wrote, photographed and designed his first book called WOMEN OVER 30. Two more books followed. ELEKTRA, about the movie production of the Richard Strauss opera and OPERA LIVE, a coffee table book about the Vienna State Opera.  Feeling confined in Europe and eager for the ambition of America, Koller moved to Manhattan then Palm Beach, Florida where he now resides.  In 1987, with his first collection of paintings, "Homage to Egon Schiele", Koller made the transition from photography to painting. The artist then turned his interest to historic portraits of the Native Americans. Figurative paintings in acrylic on canvas followed. Since the beginning of 1997 Koller is working on a series of colorful animal paintings.  In summer 1998 a gallery in Vienna, Austria showed these paintings for the very first time at an exhibition. Galleria di Sorrento at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas premiered these super realistic pop paintings in the United States in the summer 1999.  Since spring 2004, Galerie Pierre M. Dumonteil of Paris, France and Shanghai, China represents Koller’s art work exclusively world wide and exhibits his paintings at major international art expos.