Born in in Sent, Engadin, Switzerland 1948 | Lives and works in Beijing, China, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, and Sent, Switzerland
Drawing from the solitude of his native Swiss mountains, Not Vital's conceptual works blur the boundaries of reality and the surreal. Moving masterfully between such diverse media as sculpture, installation, painting, and drawing, Vital combines the abstract and the figurative in a harmonious way, creating a meditative atmosphere. Vital's three-dimensional pieces are an amalgamation of architecture and sculpture. Taking a keen interest in anthropology, Vital is an avid traveler whose work integrates natural elements and expresses respect for local cultures. Working together with engineers and architects, the artist is known for creating environments that renew the functions of architecture and explore the philosophy of housing and use of space in locations as diverse as the deserts of Niger, alpine valleys in Switzerland, and a marble cave in Patagonia.
Vital was active on the New York art scene in the 1980s. He represented Switzerland at the Venice Biennale in 2001. Vital's work is represented in numerous prestigious public collections around the world, such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Philadelphia Museum, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Kunstmuseum Bern and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark.
Galerie Forsblom has been representing Not Vital since 2015.