Ottmar Hörl was born in 1950 in Nauheim, Germany. He is a notable German artist, art professor, and writer. Not only Hörl studied at the Städelschule in Frankfurt (1975 / 1978), but also at the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf (1978 / 1981). In 1985 he co-founded the group Fomalhaut, with architects Gabriela Seifert and Götz Stöckmann. In 1999, Hörl became Professor of Fine Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg. Eventually, he has been president of the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg since 2005. A mischievous artist, Hörl’s career has been predominantly about creating public commentary. He used his whimsical sculptures that have a friendly and teasing tone, especially with his gnomes. His work Flying Change staged in Selignstadt in 1994, for instance, placed a thousand blue garden gnomes, smiling and brandishing their middle fingers, all around the city. The intended effect was for the public to take them and move them around, which the townspeople gratefully did.