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Page 4 of 7 Tony Matelli
Reality. Replicated (sort of). - born in Chicago, IL
- graduated 1993, BFA Sculpture
1995, MFA Cranbrook Academy of Art - currently a studio artist in NYC
 Tony Matelli “...it’s just real enough...” “Tony Matelli is a trickster, a trader in combinatory illusions, a skilled manipulator of the restless mediation between metaphor, meaning and truth.”1 After graduating from MIAD as a Sculpture Major, Tony Matelli certainly didn’t waste any time establishing himself as one of the world’s most significant contemporary artists. He attended graduate school, and soon became a national and international wonder showing work in places such as Sweden, France, Italy, and New York. “I make work that speaks of the need and the frustration of trying to locate oneself in an already set world. My work frequently depicts things finding wayward means of survival.”2 Matelli’s work has been described as playful, sarcastic, dark, witty, intellectual, even vulgar. His hyper-real sculptures and installations invite viewers to look at slices of life (whether personal, environmental, social, or cultural) that are often overlooked, ignored, or altogether avoided. Through his work Matelli forces us to reexamine ourselves, our humanness, including all our faults, insecurities, and imperfections.  Sleep Walker reinforced aqua resin + oil paint
“Matelli’s characters seem to cast about in stories that we can only imagine, inhabiting narrative ‘climaxes’ -- captured moments with the ruptured quality of a snapshot.... His single figures are uncertain agents, cut loose to implicate their environments and the viewers who encounter them. Sleep Walker [1998], for example, depicts the life-size figure of a somnambulant young man. Vulnerable in his BVDs, he is zombified, maw agape, arms outstretched, caught dumb and sluggish in-between security and disconnection. Wandering beyond the range of enacted subjectivity, eyes closed, the Sleep Walker is unaware of life, even refuses it.”3  The Hunter
“In The Hunter [2002], a highly derailed self-portrait, Matelli makes for an improbable huntsman, armed with a single rope and wearing garments that are not quite appropriate.... It’s as if camouflage fabric, perfect for hiding among leaves, had been supplanted by a fantastic uniform perfect for roaming about the territory of dreams. The face bears the dumbfounded expression of one who has just smelled a mysterious odor -- midway between repulsion and attraction, between the fear of discovering an unpleasant surprise and the desire to encounter something new. The figure’s stance, too, with his hand held up to his face, underlines this medley of feelings....”4
About Abandon:
“Matelli proposed Abandon [1999-2000], his first site-specific gallery commission as an exercise in calculated failure predicated on weeds. Prosaic objects which manage to be ‘waste and life at the same time,’ weeds lend themselves, perhaps incomparably, to a focused exploration of metaphor and meaning. For Matelli, weeds are ‘the horticultural equivalent of a zit,’ and ‘represent a breakdown, either a failure or refusal to fight the perfunctory battle against entropy. One weed is a forgivable blemish. Overgrowth is hopeless abandon. Overgrowth inside is the cultivation of abandonment, a rewriting of rules. The celebration of failure.’ ”5  Abandon Selected solo exhibitions - Leo Koenig Inc. NYC [2005/02/01]
- Emmanuel Perrotin France [2005]
- Kunsthalle Wien Austria [2004]
- Kunstraum Dornbin Austria [2004]
- Galerie Andrehn Schiptjenko Sweden [2003/99]
- Sies+Hocke Gallery Dusseldorf [2003/00]
- Emmanuel Perrotin Gallery France [2002]
- Gian Enzo Sperone Italy [2002]
- Bailey Fine Art Toronto [2002]
- Art Dealers Invitational France [2001]
- Ten in One Gallery NYC [2000]
- Torch Gallery Amsterdam [2000]
- Gallery du Triangle France [2000]
- University of Buffalo Art Gallery NY [1999]
- Basilico Fine Arts NYC [1999/97]
- Ten in One Gallery Chicago, IL [1997]
Selected group exhibitions - ‘The Most Splendid Apocalypse’ PPOW Gallery NYC [2005]
- Gary Tatintsian Gallery Moscow, Russia [2005]
- ‘The Ten Commandments’ Hygeine Museum Dreden, Germany [2004]
- ‘The Uncanny’ Tate, Liverpool England [2004]
- ‘The Fourth Sex’ MOCA Chicago, IL [2003]
- ‘Small World’ MOCA San Diego, CA [2000]
1,3,5 Fischman, Lisa. Tony Matelli. New York: Leo Koenig, Inc., 2003.
2 http://www.ps1.org/cut/Gny/tmatelli.html
4 Romeo, Filippo. “Tony Matelli -- Reviews: Rome.” ArtForum. 11.2002. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0268/is_3_41/ai_94122726  Fucked, installation  Fucked (Arm), installation
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