WATCH: Timelapse Of Huge, Steel Lotus Buds Installation At Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Swiss artist Not Vital unveils huge new stainless steel sculptures at his first major UK exhibition…
We saw them just as they were installed; glinting in the sunshine, placed carefully by a team of handlers along the entire length of Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s beautiful 18th century Terrace. Reflections of surrounding trees, flowers and visitors ripple across their surfaces, creating an odd feeling of seeing something appear as from another realm.
Not Vital’s outdoor sculpture, Let 100 Flowers Bloom (2008), features 100 huge and bulbous lotus buds on three-metre long stems in weighty stainless steel. This behind-the-scenes timelaypse video is one sneak-peek behind his first major UK exhibition and largest museum project to date, at the stunning public park in Wakefield.
Born in 1948 in the village of Sent, in the lower Engadin valley in the Swiss Alps, Not Vital has developed brand new works for YSP’s indoor and open-air spaces, alongside a selection of older work spanning 30 years of his career. Known for collaborating with international craftsmen to make his artworks, including steel-chasers in Beijing and Tuareg silversmiths in Agadez, Not Vital’s practce is focused on nature, landscapes and spaces.
Visitors to the show, opening this Saturday, can also expect a première of monochrome portraits of friends, family and studio assistants, one of them made especially for the gallery and measuring 12 metres long and four metres high; plus a collection of large chased-steel and ceramic HEADS (2014) made in Jingdezhen, China, which was for centuries central to the production of imperial porcelain.
See Not Vital at Yorkshire Sculpture Park from 21 May 2016–2 January 2017 — FREE
Want to hear Not Vital talk about his work in person? Register your interest in this rare opportunity planned for later on in the year; email comms assistant Damon Waldock on damon.waldock@ysp.co.uk
