Artists

Not Vital

Press release

Not Vital's art is inspired by his nomadic lifestyle and experiences of travelling the globe, reflecting on habitations, nature and animals, and on the relationships between sculpture and architecture. Exploring the boundaries between abstract and figurative forms, his work is marked by a particularly intimate relationship with materials, including plaster, steel, marble, ceramic and organic matter. He often collaborates with skilled craftsmen around the world, ranging from Beijing steel-chasers and Murano glass-blowers, to Tuareg silversmiths and Bhutan papermakers. The physicality of his approach, combined with an innate understanding of his chosen materials' essential properties, results in visually challenging works that are often destabilising in their striking scale and presence.  

To better define his recent large-scale structures, in 2009 Vital coined the term 'SCARCH' – a conflation of sculpture and architecture. Central to his work is an exploration of the spatial, economic and cultural contexts of homes and workplaces. Driven by an impulse to build shelters that he traces back to childhood, he has constructed responsive habitats that are integrated into the communities in which they are built. Intimately connected with the rhythms of nature, his Houses to Watch the Sunset represent 'an invitation to dream' and reflect the extraordinary qualities of their surroundings, while also giving work to local people. As with all his works, these are constructed with formal rigour and a Minimalist aesthetic: 'you can't add or subtract anything […] It's complete in itself. It is what it is. You couldn't even take one step away without diminishing it.'