Richard Höglund (b.1982, Sumter, South Carolina) is an American artist who produces works on paper, photographs and paintings, all founded in what he considers to be the most expressive fundamental form: drawing. Born in 1982 in South Carolina, he grew up in New York and studied fine art at the School of Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and semiology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, USA. In 2008, he obtained a MFA at the Haute École des Arts du Rhin in Strasbourg, France, and in 2013 was selected by Tacita Dean CBE, RA to participate in her workshop at the Fundación Botín in Santander, Spain.
Using mark making as a starting point, Höglund turns linear form into melodic abstract compositions in works which incorporate unusual materials such as shells, marble dust, pulverised bone, lead, tin, copper, silver and gold. As he explains: "by combining different materials, in specific ways, within specific geometries, the[ir] meanings start to interact with each other and to create a story." Each series of works is developed after a long process of research and contemplation, compounding ideas from the worlds of philosophy, architecture and literature, whilst also investigating the significance of traditional media, such as drawing and painting, and their fundamental artistic method. Drawing, for Höglund, offers the most direct route to expressing human thought, before it becomes inevitably altered by language.
Solo exhibitions and projects include: Art Cake, New York (2023), Waddington Custot, London (2023), The Bonnier Gallery, Miami (2021, 2019), Ronchini Gallery, London (2021, 2019, 2016); Custot Gallery, Dubai (2016); Skaftfell, Seyðisfjörður, Iceland (2015); Tête, Berlin (2012); Dimensions Variable, Miami (2012); the Mamco and the Villa Bernasconi, Geneva (2010); Nina Johnson Gallery, Miami (2012, 2009); Le Salon du Dessin Contemporain, Paris (2008); and La Chaufferie, Strasbourg, France (2006). Group exhibitions include: Azan, Lisbon (2024); Custot Gallery, Dubai (2023); Site 131, Dallas (2021); Hangar Art Centre, Brussels (2017); Villa Iris, Santander, Spain (2013); Bob Rauschenberg Gallery, Fort Myers (2013); New World School of the Arts, Miami (2011); Bakehouse Art Complex, Miami (2010); Musée de l'Oeuvre Notre Dame, Strasbourg, France (2007); National Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria (2007); La Bellevilloise, Paris (2006); and Mumok, Vienna (2006).
Höglund was awarded the Prix Jeune Création in Paris, France in 2006 and has participated in several residency programs including: Opera Nova, Orvieto, Italy (2024); La Chapelle Saint Antoine, Naxos, Greece (2024); the Tuscan Art Center, Province of Siena, Italy (2024); Hóll, the Birgir Andrésson Residency, Seyðisfjörður, Iceland (2015); Villa Ruffieux, Sierre (2013); Villa Bernasconi, Geneva (2010); Moly Sabata, Sablons (2010); and the Fountainhead Residency, Miami (2009).
Richard Höglund lives and works in France.