Austrian artist Helmut Zwerger displays his ‘Myriad Moods’ at Hirji Jehangir Art Gallery
The world is not enough “You really have to be devoted to people in order to paint them the way I do” Abstract colours, radiant splashes and interesting detailing sums up the myriad moods captured by Austrian artist Helmut Zwerger in his paintings.

Mumbai, Maharashtra, February 10, 2010 / IndiaPRLine / — Abstract colours, radiant splashes and interesting detailing sums up the myriad moods captured by Austrian artist Helmut Zwerger in his paintings. Best known for being the first artist to have his works sent to space, Zwerger chose India to display them publicly for the first time ever.

His works adorn the households of many a clientele across the globe and also the rich and famous superstars like Luciano Pavorotti, Arnold Schwarzenegger among other. Finding the Indian culture and Bollywood extremely fascinating, he has painted portraits of several B-town celebs like Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachhan, Priyanka Chopra among others and others like Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Vijay Mallya. His works capture the ‘soul’ and not the ‘face’…so be ready to see the sexiness of Kareena Kapoor or the intensity of Amitabh’s gaze, the demureness of Aishwarya or the cool rockstar façade of Shahrukh Khan!

For the first time ever in history, he will be exhibiting his space paintings at the Hirji Jehangir Art Gallery starting 9th of February, 2010 to 15th February 2010.

The exhibition has been presented by Aakif Habib, Director and Founder of Renaissance Art World and curated by Juliet Neussl. It was on Mr Habib’s insistence and confidence that the exhibition is finally taking place. The media, marketing and logistics are being managed and conceptualized exclusively by Clover Communications, a lifestyle and luxury consulting company.

Speaking on the initiative, Deepti Dadlani, Director of Clover Communications, says, “We have worked closely with Helmut Zwerger’s fascination for India, and have strategically organised the exhibit in Mumbai as it is the Bollywood hub and the centre for many an art patron. It was an exciting project as each artist has their own expression and we could relate to his and create an exhibit on those lines”

Note on Myriad Moods

Having done Hollywood, Zwerger chose Bollywood as he was very curious to know how Indian stars are appreciated by their countrymen. Finding India very fascinating and mysterious, he wanted to do something here…having visited it thrice, he says “India has everything”. His medium of work is acrylic. He has painted portraits of over 20 celebs, such as Aamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Kajol, Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Amitabh B, Aishwarya Rai, Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan, Madhubala and the likes.

What is exceptional about Zwerger’s artwork is that his works are substantial with abstract random colours. He is a self-taught artist and thus it is his invention. They are also exceptional because he has captured the souls of stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny de Vito, and Luciano Pavarotti.

The idea behind his work is to get behind the person and know the characteristics of the person along with getting the WOW effect in every painting. He decided to exhibit in India even though he is already an established artist in Europe because India was a novel market and experience for him.

Brief on Helmut Zwerger’s paintings that went to space

On October 18, 2003 paintings from Helmut Zwerger under the title “Oil @ ALL” were brought with a Sojus TMA-3 carrier rocket from the aerospace basis in Bajkonur to the ISS space shuttle under the control of Russian cosmonaut and “space-gallerist” Alexander Kaleri. Portraits of Juri Gagarin, the first man in space, start tenor Luciano Pavarotti as well as US-Senator and astronaut John Glenn were in the outer space for 200 days over a distance of 150 MM km., a distance, which equals the one from earth to sun. These paintings have never been exhibited before.

These works came back to earth in May 2004 on board the Sojus TMA-3, where then the works were notarized and signed by a Notar in Germany(This signature one sees behind the paintings.) and by Space Gallerist and Cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri.

In all Zwerger had painted 15 works, out of these only 3 were chosen by cosmonaut Kaleri.