Not Vital b. His work seeks to provoke unusual experiences or viewpoints, either by displacing purely natural forms, or by extracting elements from remote regions, and re-contextualizing them into an artistic framework, often altering their scale or materials. Since the beginning of the s, Not Vital has repeatedly collaborated with artisans in an endeavour to intertwine sculpture and the construction of space, frequently diluting the limits between art and architecture, and establishing an intimate relationship with the local cultural context.
Indeed, his pieces work to alter our perception of the environment that they inhabit, either through their reflexive physicality or their unusual architectural structure.
Vital has also produced paintings and works on paper, which converse with the matters he addresses in his sculptures and architectural propositions. For these pieces, the artist employs a varied palette of materials that go from the simple and perishable —coffee, salt, eggs— to the most valuable and resistant —marble, silver and gold.
In addition, he has also built so-called habitats, such as the House to Watch the Sunset , amongst other schools, bridges or tunnels. Redefining the possible, Vital presents us with unique artworks that instigate us to acquire new ways of seeing and thinking. Lotus flowers suddenly present themselves clothed entirely in reflective stainless steel. Removed from the mortal realm of the organic, they carry timeless buds that will forever gleam in seclusion.
Walking Sticks are abruptly separated from their function by their enlarged size, standing before us like utopian totems. A Tongue turns into an obelisk, and the Moon lands on earth. Animated Land- and Seascapes slowly, yet unequivocally emerge out of marble plates. Portraits of well-known figures such as Oscar Niemeyer materialize in the form of elegant cubic sculptures made out of silver.
