Biography

Not Vital is a Swiss artist in the fields of graphics, painting, sculpture and architecture.

Not Vital was born in 1948 in Sent in the Swiss Lower Engadine. Through the art historian Max Huggler, who lived there, he came into deeper contact with art. From 1968-1969 he studied at the Centre universitaire expérimental de Vincennes in Paris. In the 1980s he created his first three-dimensional works.

Vital’s works, in various techniques and across genres, are shown worldwide in major museums and galleries as well as in public spaces. In his park Not dal mot in Sent, for example, you can see mnemonic, Tower of Silence, Eishaus and other installations.

His foundation Not Vital (fundaziun Not Vital) in Scuol has the aim of returning mainly 17th and 18th century prints to their place of origin within the framework of a library. The foundation also includes an art collection with works by Not Vital and other artists.

In 2010 he successfully participated in the competition for the redesign of the chancel of St. Gallen Cathedral. He won the Art-et-Architecture competition with his No Problem Sculpture for the Mobimo Tower, a high-rise building in Zurich that will be completed in 2011.

In March 2016 Not Vital acquired Tarasp Castle from the Hesse family.

He lives and works in the Lower Engadin, Beijing and Ardez. In the past, he frequently visited New York.

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ARTWORKS Not Vital

Not-vital
Kiss, 1996
Aquatint etching
86.5 x 162.6 cm
Not Vital
Kiss

1996

Aquatint etching

86.5 x 162.6 cm

signed, dated and inscribed "BAT" on the right (not visible in the photo)

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Print: BAT (bon à tirer), printers proof

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Not Vital Art
Heart, 1998
Aluminium Guss
31.5 x 15 x 12 cm
Not Vital
Heart

1998

Aluminium Guss

31.5 x 15 x 12 cm

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Edition of 3

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Not Vital Art
Einhorn, Zweihorn, Dreihorn, 1986
hydrocal, wood and antlers
300 x 61 x 20 cm
Not Vital
Einhorn, Zweihorn, Dreihorn

1986

hydrocal, wood and antlers

300 x 61 x 20 cm

signed below

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Ausstellungen

  • Schloss Tarasp, Friends, August 3rd, 2018 – September 1st, 2018
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Not Vital Art
Buatscha (cow dung), from 1990
bronce
H 6 x 28 x 26 cm
Not Vital
Buatscha (cow dung)

from 1990

bronce

H 6 x 28 x 26 cm

signed and numbered underneath

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“Several years ago Vital was traveling in a rural part of Nepal and a man approached him and told him that his son had been very badly scalded by boiling milk (burns account for 1/3 of casualties among children since it is common for families to live in one room huts with an open fire for cooking and heating, and the children, without toys or other distractions, are attracted to the fire). The father, desperate, asked for Vital’s help.

Vital came to see the boy and then rented a bus to bring the family to the hospital in Katmandu (a six hour trip). When he returned later to see how the boy was, the family was still waiting outside because the only empty bed was in a private room which cost two dollars a day. Not arranged for the private room and returned each day to deliver medicine and visit.

Later, back in Switzerland, Vital had the idea to make 1000 unique sculptures by casting 1000 pieces of (sun-dried) cow dung in bronze and to use the proceeds from sales of the sculptures to build a burns hospital in Katmandu since 1990 he has raised more than $300,000). Vital liked the idea of turning cow dung, something valuable in Nepal (as in India) and worthless in Switzerland, into something valuable in Switzerland (though worthless in Nepal) by casting it in bronze, and by doing so he could use “good burning” to help “bad burning“ “.

Cit. Baron/Boisanté Editions, New York

Foundry Fonderia d’Arte Massimo Del Chiaro, Pietrasanta, Italy

Edition One out of an edition of 1000 (planned) individually and unique cast sculptures. This work bears the edition number: 156.

ProvenanceBaron/Boisante Editions, New York Private collection, Switzerland

Literature Markus Stegmann/Werner Meyer/Marco Franciolli, ‘Not Vital. Fat es fat, catalogue accompanying the exhibition of the same name in the Museum zu Allergheiligen, Schaffhausen; Kunsthalle Göppingen; Museo Cantonale d’Arte, Lugano’, 2002, double-page colour illustration p. 34/35 (other copy of the edition), p. 90/93;

Stephan Kunz/Lynn Kost, ‘Not Vital. Univers privat’, Bündner Kunstmuseum Chur/Scheidegger & Spiess, 2017, double-page colour illustration p. 64/65;

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