Lot 3409* - A215 Post-War & Contemporary - Thursday, 27. November 2025, 02.00 PM
NOT VITAL
(Sent 1948–lives and works in Beijing )
Head No.1. 2013.
Stainless steel with PVD coating. 3/3.
At the lower part of the back of the head with the welded signature: NOT VITAL.
150 × 130 × 105 cm.
Provenance:
- Private collection, Germany, acquired from the above in 2014.
Exhibited:
Since Not Vital set up his studio in Beijing's Caochangdi artists' quarter in 2008, the depiction of heads has been a central motif in his work, whether in sculptures, drawings or paintings. Head No. 1 (lot XXX) is part of a group of works in which Not Vital probes the boundary between abstract and figurative forms. The shiny, polished stainless-steel object, finished with a state-of-the-art PVD coating, reflects not only its surroundings but also the viewers themselves. The combination of a reflective surface and convex shape creates an optical interplay of proximity and distance that seems to both attract and repel the viewer, a kind of vertigo effect in which space and perspective are distorted. The presence of the object in the room makes for a striking contrast between this and its quiet aura. On the one hand, the work appears archaic, while on the other, it seems contemporary and futuristic, like a relic from the distant past that simultaneously bears witness to a technologically shaped future. But it is precisely these dualities of past and future, proximity and distance, form and material that lend Head No. 1 its special appeal and impact. The work remains enigmatic and resists being categorised. It becomes a site of projections, a haunting object that asks questions without answering them and thus remains in the memory for a long time.
CHF 40 000 / 60 000 | (€ 41 240 / 61 860)
Sold for CHF 112 500 (including buyer's premium)