CH.89: If you were to categorize or describe the style of your artwork, what would it be and why?
RH: It would be difficult for me to choose one category, but I would say I associate with many at the same time.
CH.89: Where do you draw your inspiration from?
RH: Mostly from literature and painting.
CH.89: Can you talk a little bit about what your creative thought process is like when starting a new project/ piece of artwork?
RH: There are always images that I encounter and that fixate in my mind stubbornly. Then it is only a matter of time until one of those stored images becomes part of something larger and becomes visible through drawing and writing. The next step is imagining those drawings becoming pictures, sculptures or installations. I’m describing here my work process rather than my technical process but it is in essence very simple.
CH.89: Is there anything in particular that you would want people to take from your artwork?
RH: I would like people to feel the same joy and freedom I experience when making an artwork.
CH.89: Can you talk a little bit about your lifestyle as an artist and what that is like?
RH: I dedicate a huge amount of my time to producing my work, so my lifestyle revolves around my time at the studio. That’s the place where I am the happiest. But more and more after COVID I see how important it is for my mind and for my work the moments of socializing and traveling.
CH.89: When starting out an artistic task, do you think it is better to have a particular direction/set plan guiding your way? Or, is it better to act on impulse and go from there?
RH: I think it’s a combination of both, but at the very start for me it’s important to feel that instinctive impulse that drives me to engage with an idea or an image and do something with it.
CH.89: What is one major lesson you’ve learned as an artist thus far?
RH: To concentrate on the NOW, on the present moment. I’m still learning to do that.
CH.89: Do you regard personal style & taste to be of highest importance?
RH: Yes, I do. Although I feel these two things are at least one step away from my sphere of action as an artist. What I mean is that style and taste relate more to the world of opinion and less about the world of action and work, and I really hope I can be able to concentrate on the latter.
CH.89: What do you consider to be the hardest thing about being an artist?
RH: Focusing on what is important; channelling the fears and anxieties about life in a way that is productive and at the same time sincere; finding a balance between life and work.
CH.89: What is one thing you love about being an artist?
RH: The time at the studio.
CH.89: Is there anyone in particular, any artist’s that inspire you in any way?
RH: Silvia Bächli, a swiss artist that was my professor at the Kunstakademie in Karlsruhe. She is a very focused artist, that has developed over many decades a form of registering her experience in the world that is very personal and at the same time universal.
CH.89: What do you think of technology in terms of being a useful tool for artists today?
RH: I don’t depend a lot on what you would call “technology” these days but even a painting medium, to work with oil colors could be considered technology so in that sense there are technological tools I am dependent on.
CH.89: Do you think being an artist allows you to view the world differently from those who don’t follow creative paths?
RH: Not really. All of us humans see the world in a different way, but what I think is specific for artists is that we put attention and work on developing a form of viewing the world; and that is the essence of our work.
CH.89: Do you enjoy traveling? If so, do you have a favorite city?
RH: I love traveling! In general I like big cities where you can find a café to sit down and anonymously watch people move around performing their lives. Maybe my favorite city is Paris.
CH.89: Do you have a favorite author or book?
RH: Patrick Modiano’s “Pedigree” is a magnificent little novel that moves me every time I read it. It’s fast, tumultuous, sad and mysterious.
CH.89: Any future goals or plans for your artwork?
RH: Getting rid of those illusory chains that sometimes still stop me from doing exactly what I want to do in my work.
CH.89: What does being an artist mean to you?
RH: Being alive and aware of my experience.
CH.89: What’s the last song you listened to?
RH: Los Ángeles Azules – Nunca Es Suficiente ft. Natalia Lafourcade
CH.89: Any last words on the aesthetic of your artwork?
RH: I wish my work can create the sort of experience I have when I read the book “Pedrigree”.
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