Not Vital: 700 Snowballs

On view at Galerie Andrea Caratsch, in St. Moritz, “700 Snowballs” is an installation consisting of 700 individually blown glass balls that bear a striking resemblance to snowballs suspended in air.

The snowballs rest directly on the floor, evenly and randomly spread. As each snowball was hand-blown by Vetreria Pino Signoretto in Murano, no two are identical – just as natural elements are never exactly repeated.

The installation creates a place of meditation, evoking the metamorphic, transformative and cyclical processes of nature. The luminous and reflective qualities of glass simultaneously reflect both the dense and yet ephemeral nature of snow. This mirrors the tension between the organic form and the inorganic material, between the durability of the artwork and the fragility of the elements it evokes. “700 Snowballs” becomes an environment, a tranquil place of awe and contemplation. Inspired throughout his career by a childhood spent in the Swiss Alps, Vital has explored the contradictions of the harsh climate and vast landscapes that he knows so intimately. Indeed, the iconography of snow and its context has recurred throughout Vital’s oeuvre – he has for instance used plaster to mould mountains that appear to be covered in snow, and has fabricated sleds from marble.

In “700 Snowballs”, Vital succinctly and poetically presents the duality of water’s form when it freezes. The work explores the everrich potential of Venice glass-blowing tradition, despite our being in an era of industrial mass-production and cultural globalization. It represents an unprecedented technical feat, and a fine example of the fruits that can be borne of an intimate and intellectually stimulating collaboration between a highly established artist, and the most skilled of Murano craftsmen.

until September 20, 2015
Not Vital
700 Snowballs
curated by Alma Zevi
Galerie Andrea Caratsch
via Serlas 12, St. Moritz