Federle spent his childhood and youth in
St. Margrethen close to
St. Gallen in Switzerland. In 1959, he created his first small paintings with his initials HF as a motif. From 1964, Federle studied at the School of Applied Art in
Basel. In 1969 and 1971, he received a federal scholarship. In the following year, Federle travelled to
Tunisia and the United States, where he studied for example the works of
Mark Rothko and
Agnes Martin. Together with his fellow artist and friend
Martin Disler he exhibited in 1976 in the Kunstmuseum der Stadt
Solothurn. Motifs at this time were mountains reduced to small triangles. In 1979, Federle exhibited large-scaled canvases with geometric forms in the
Kunsthalle Basel. The exhibition was mostly misunderstood. In 1979 and 1980, Federle lived in
New York City where he was featured in the C-Space together with
John M. Armleder,
Olivier Mosset and
Christoph Gossweiler. In 1981, the artist book
New Suicide Grafic, Faces and other Pieces and in 1984 the artist book
Arbeit der Neuen Ordnung (NSG II) were published. From 1983 to 1984, Federle lived in
Zürich and held a professorship in
Reykjavík. Later he moved to
Vienna where he started to work with
Galerie Nächst St. Stephan. In the following years, Federle was widely featured in various museum shows. In 1997, he represented Switzerland at the
XLVII. Biennale in Venice. From 1999 until 2007 he held a professorship at the
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and, in 2008, he received the
Prix Aurelie Nemours., in 2016 the Ricola Prize. 'Scratching Away at the Surface' was the title of a recent exhibition in New York. Federle lives and works in
Vienna and in
Camaiore, Italy. == Solo exhibitions ==