“Mothers” exhibition by artists Not Vital and Richard Long

A Nara RoeslerRio de Janeiro is pleased to present Mothers, an exhibition that brings together works by Not Vital (Sent, Switzerland, 1948) and Richard Long (Bristol, United Kingdom, 1945). The exhibition, which opens to the public on September 10, celebrates the gallery's tenth anniversary in Rio de Janeiro and will feature previously unseen works by both artists, including site-specific works by Richard Long created especially for the occasion.

Despite their distinct artistic and personal trajectories, Long and Vital share a friendship and a bond that transcends the field of art. The title chosen by the artists for the exhibition is a tribute to both of their mothers. Richard Long's mother, Frances, originally from Bristol, England, was born in Rio de Janeiro. Long, in turn, established a relationship of admiration and affection with Maria, Not Vital's mother. When Maria turned one hundred in 2016, Long dedicated to her a new edition of his famous series, begun in 1971, entitled A Hundred Mile Walk – in which he walked the distance between Stonehenge and the source of the Thames.

Born in Sent, Switzerland, Not Vital became familiar with a landscape marked by snow and shades of gray, a color palette that strongly influenced his work, since, in his words, “when it wasn’t snowing, everything was gray.” Although he also produces installations and paintings, it can be said that the most expressive part of his work consists of sculptures, a language to which he has dedicated himself since the beginning of his career and in which he uses materials such as bronze, plaster, marble, among others. In many of these works, the artist explores the link between organic and inorganic, human and animal, real and fantastic, in totemic, hybrid and mysterious structures.

Not Vital is also known for having expanded sculpture into architecture with his Scarchs, a term created by the artist himself, which derives from the combination of the words “sculpture” and “architecture” in English, to define works built around the world with local materials. The artist travels the world creating works and interventions, having already been to places such as China, Niger, the Philippines and, more recently, Brazil, where he has a studio in the Santa Teresa neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro.

Richard Long, in turn, is one of the most celebrated contemporary sculptors, having been the only artist to be a finalist for the Turner Prize four times (and winner of the 1989 edition). Having begun his career in the 1960s, the artist describes his work as being a “response to the environments” he walks through. In general, Long promotes some kind of alteration in these landscapes, almost always with the materials that compose them, such as rocks, mud and snow. In some cases, the main element becomes the artist's walk through the area, with photographs, maps and texts serving as a record of this action.

As his works often take place in isolated and remote areas, such as the Sahara Desert or lands in Iceland, and since most of these sculptural actions are ephemeral, the process of executing his gestures on the land, as well as the photographic record of these, bring his production closer to performance, a practice that made Long one of the pioneers of Land Art.

As two artists who think about sculpture from a contemporary perspective, it is possible to establish interesting parallels between their poetics. In addition to the nomadic spirit they have in common and which somehow marks the work of both artists, one can also highlight the ephemerality, present in both Long's work and in some of Vital's Scarchs. There is also the establishment of a relationship between the works and the environment and landscape in which they are inserted and, in the case of Not Vital, there are also the relationships established with the local population.

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Exhibition | Mothers
From September 10th to October 26th
Monday to Friday from 10:19 to 11:15, Saturday from XNUMX:XNUMX to XNUMX:XNUMX