About My Journey
From Boundaries to Bridges
An artist’s journey — the experiences that shaped their personality and, consequently, their approach to art — tells more than any list of facts. This is my version.
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Barbabeau from the Barbapapa family, a lifelong companion :-)
A couple of decades later, in my living room.
Vita
I grew up in the middle of the ‘Röschtigraben,’ an invisible boundary between the German-speaking and French-speaking parts of Switzerland. I was a quiet, introverted boy who always knew I would become an artist.
Unfortunately, my parents were convinced otherwise, despite my early success — my work was exhibited regularly, and even collected by a museum during my teens. Nevertheless, I went to a commercial high school.
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After graduation, my teachers urged me to study mathematics, and my parents pushed me to learn ‘something solid.’ Despite having nothing else in mind but becoming an artist, I wasn’t brave enough to go against their wishes. I had a natural inclination for logic and abstraction, but math? No way! I considered studying philosophy, but that wasn’t “solid” enough either.
After a preparatory course at an art school in Bern, I enrolled at the Art Center College of Design to study communication design — this was as close to art as I could get, and it seemed solid enough.
To be honest, it was fantastic! It never felt like a compromise. The campus was in an old château overlooking Lake Geneva, and I thrived in the international, multicultural environment. The years flew by, and I graduated with honors, ready to move on.
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I relocated to Salzburg, Austria, to work as an art director at an international advertising agency. The plan was to stay for one or maybe two years — then I met someone who later became my husband. Twenty-five years later, I’m still here. The ‘annual plan’ was accurate about one thing: the advertising job. Within a few months, I realized that the 9-to-5 grind and corporate advertising weren’t for me, no matter how ‘solid’ the job seemed. So, I became self-employed.
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For the next fifteen years, I toggled between graphic design and fine art, balancing the need to make a living with the desire for creative freedom. I joined the association of visual artists Salzburg, won some awards, participated in exhibitions across Europe, gained loyal collectors, and even became a member of Mensa International. I was on a very solid path!
But artistically, I began to feel stuck — trapped by my own style and technique. Professionally, I was growing bored. The thought of continuing like this for another twenty-five years was uninspiring. But what else could I do? Math?
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An Alternative Vita
Life doesn’t change on its own, does it? In 2011, I withdrew from all memberships and stopped working as a freelance graphic designer — something I had been meaning to do for years. I also stepped back from my artistic career, and I changed my name. Sometimes, it’s easier to take the bull by the horns and burn all bridges.
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The process of self-discovery and reorientation that followed was both inspiring and liberating — like peeling away unnecessary layers of ballast.
Of course, I didn’t become a completely different person. My interests, aesthetic preferences, and themes remained the same. I just gained clarity and, most importantly, rediscovered the joy of creating.
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Philosophy
This is where the journey becomes philosophical and spiritual. While I’m not affiliated with any religious group or institution, my Weltanschauung is deeply inspired by Asian philosophies. At the same time, I’m influenced by the Western beliefs I grew up with, especially Calvinism. I don’t see these influences as conflicting, but rather as enriching.
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Through my years of studying symbols, I’ve noticed common beliefs shared by most religions — a kind of spiritual core. Beyond that, there are many human-made doctrines that don’t resonate with me at all.
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Growing up on a fictional border in a small, multicultural country, the concept of boundaries and separation never made much sense to me. I prefer the idea of unity and integration. To me, becoming whole is the only way forward — whether in art, spirituality, or social issues. Until we understand that there is nothing but this collective ‘we’ — one humanity on one planet — we won’t make any significant progress.
