Arnold Helbling received his academic training at the Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst in Basel. He has lived in New York since 1990 and has exhibited widely in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

His work has been shown in New York City at White Columns, Roebling Hall, the Swiss Institute, Artist Space and Deutsches Haus at NYU. Further at University of New England, Portland, Main; Binghamton University Art Museum, Binghamton; Islip Art Museum, Oakdale NY; University of Southern Maine, Portland, Main.
He has also exhibited work at the Sungkok Art Museum, Seoul, Korea; the Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland; the Helmhaus, Zurich, Switzerland; the Kunstmuseum Zug, Switzerland; the Kunstverein Riehen, Switzerland, and the Centre Pasqu’Art Museum, Biel, Switzerland, among others.

Arnold Helbling’s work is in public collections including the collection of the New School University, New York; the Neuberger Museum of Art, State University of New York, Purchase, NY; University Museum of Southern Maine, Portland; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, The Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; the Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft, Bern; Stadt Zurich, Switzerland; Aargauisches Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland; Kunstmuseum Zug, Switzerland, and Centre Pasqu’Art Museum, Biel, Switzerland; University of Basel, Switzerland; National Musuem of Australia, Canberra, Australia.

His work has been reviewed in Art in America, Kunst-Bulletin, Arte Al Limite, New York Times, Neue Zuercher Zeitung, Basler Zeitung, Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, and The Korean Times, among others.

He was the recipient of a Swiss National Grant in 1990 and 1993, and the Foerderpreis Kanton Aargau 1987.