HRW combines various media in his virtual art: the digital drawings are considered finished artworks to be printed, thus they (can) be transformed into a real state as soon as there is a need. His digital designs for sculptures, more precisely for objects made of cut steel, are visual prototype and production base. 'Gnomes' (2017-008) is one such realized artwork. As a graphic sketch of hunchbacked figures, they appear slight, with many passages for light, nimble, their hair like a joke, but as a realized steel form in the landscape, the work has a massive presence, a silhouette that still transcends the dramatic formal language. The human form, still contained within it, has a singular character within HRW's oeuvre. A motif from the Alemannic Fastnacht, or at least from nearby mythology, these symbolic little men still carry the historical superstructure, which, however, is no longer to be depicted, but rather to be thought along with. The rich green tones of the painted steel represent the contemporary part. Depending on the season, this color acts as an integrator into the landscape, or as a rich reminder of warm summers when the group of figures is exposed to snow during the winter months. Then it forms a defiant counterpart, in accordance with the artist's sense of humor. Whether in winter or summer, the association with cacti, added to that of human figures, plays with contents such as mimicry and unruliness, even if the round language of forms as a whole creates a botanical impression.
