You get the idea, meeting Helmut Lang as I did on a recent afternoon at the Sperone Westwater gallery on Bowery amid his peculiarly assertive, fossil-like memory-foam sculptures, shellacked wall objects (some of which look almost edible, but of course are not), and husk-like pieces dangling on meat hooks from the ceiling, that Helmut Lang doesn’t forget much. That he’s always working through his past, rummaging around in the idea of it, transforming it, and also hoping, perhaps, in that way, to leave it behind. And he’s left a lot behind — insofar as that’s possible, as there aren’t many artists who share their name with an iconic fashion brand (with a shop in the Meatpacking District) they haven’t owned, or been involved with, in over a decade. That brand continues on without him — even as artist Lang was preparing the show in mid-March, it was announced that HBA’s Shayne Oliver is working with brand Lang now.