Not Vital's Solo Exhibition 'Listening + Looking' at Thaddaeus Ropac London Explores Body and Landscape

Thaddaeus Ropac London presents 'Listening + Looking,' a solo exhibition by Swiss artist Not Vital from April 10 to May 23, 2026. The show spans nearly two decades of Vital's practice, featuring sculptures from 2009 onward and new painted self-portraits. Vital's work, rooted in the Engadin valley landscape and his nomadic life, investigates habitat, environment, and the fusion of painting, sculpture, and architecture. Recurring motifs like noses and ears create a surrealist tone, with body parts serving as metonyms for the whole form. Examples include 'Untitled with 1 Ear' (2015), a ceramic vessel with an ear as a handle, and 'Self-portrait as a Table' (2025), a marble table adorned with polished ears. In 'The Inside of My Left & Right Ears' (2024), carved Lasa marble ear interiors resemble Engadin mountains, blending bodily and natural topographies. Vital's stainless steel works, such as 'Self-portrait with 3 Noses' (2016), stand over three meters tall, mimicking a mountain-dweller's perspective. His silver portraits, like 'Velázquez' (2012), use numerology based on birth dates instead of visual likeness. The exhibition includes luminous self-portraits on indigo grounds, influenced by Mark Rothko and Diego Velázquez. Vital, born in 1948 in Sent, Switzerland, studied at Université Expérimentale de Vincennes and moved to New York in 1974. He has exhibited at the Venice Biennale and institutions worldwide, including a major 2016 show at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.