ART-PRESENTATION: Not Vital-Poles
The work of Not Vital is inspired from his encounters, impressions and collaborative projects amongst different cultures around the world. Working in diverse media across sculpture, installation, paintings and drawings, Vital’s works frequently blur the boundaries between reality and the surreal. Born in Sent, a village in the Lower Engadin region of Switzerland, Not Vital studied in Paris and Rome before moving to New York in 1974. Vital currently divides his time between Brazil, Chile, China, Niger and Switzerland.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac Archive
At the age of 18, Not Vital started a nomadic life, immersing himself in the cultures of the places where he settled successively, exploring the boundaries between abstract and figurative forms, his work is marked by the use of a large array of materials. Working with craftsmen around the world, from steel-chasers in Beijing and glass blowers in Murano, to Tuareg silversmiths in Agadez and papermakers in Bhutan, Vital does not have a recognisable style, although his works often reference nature and anthropomorphism, a relationship to home and to travel, and the surreal. Vital captures and materialises his ideas spontaneously, and to the highest quality, resulting in imaginative spaces, which might be an enlarged camel pelvis in stainless steel, or a house which disappears underground at the touch of a button. Not Vital presents his solo exhibition “Poles” at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris. Although Not Vital lives a nomadic life he has not forget the culture of his native Engadine. The signs used to mark the roads during the periods of snow have inspired him for a new series of steel sculptures, “POLES” (2016), which give its title to the exhibition. Since 2008, the artist has established his main studio in Beijing where he makes most of his sculptures. The monumental installation “Let 100 Flowers Bloom” (2008), comprised of 100 lotus flowers in stainless steel measuring nearly three meters long each, is embedded in this local context. The title of the work, both poetic and authoritative in its phrasing, refers to the slogan of the Hundred Flowers Campaign imposed by Mao Zedong in 1956. Each flower rather than being cast in a mould, it is hammered and welded by hand before being polished. The slight imperfections create a distinctive patina that plays with light. Often destabilizing by their scale and the optical effects they generate, Not Vital’s works open imaginary spaces. This is exemplified by the sculptural installation “Sta(i)r(e)” (2013)the title is a play on words that decomposes the English term stair with the Latin verbs stare and ire, respectively meaning “to stand” and “to go”. “Pelvis” (2008) presented in the outer spaces of the gallery, a sculpture representing an enlarged version of a camel pelvis bone epitomizes the close relationship Not Vital maintains with the theme of the animal in his practice. The choice of a camel is related to the time the artist spends in Niger, where the animal is at the same time a symbol of social status, a prestigious mean of transport, an exchange currency and a food provider.
Info: Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, 69 Avenue du Général Leclerc, Pantin, Paris, Duration 22/1-18/3/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-19:00, http://www.ropac.net
