Tony Matelli
dal 25/10/2006 al 24/11/2006
Segnalato da
25/10/2006
Tony Matelli
Andrehn-Schiptjenko, Stockholm
Matelli has always been interested in the underdog. He has become well known for his hyper realistic sculptures often depicting characters and things just barely getting by; things nearly dead, hopelessly lost or otherwise totally unwanted.
Solo show
Andrehn-Schiptjenko has great pleasure in presenting Tony
Matelli’s third solo exhibition at the gallery. The opening, in the
presence of the artist, takes place Thursday October 26 at 5 - 8 pm.
Tony Matelli has always been interested in the underdog. He has
become well known for his hyper realistic sculptures often depicting
characters and things just barely getting by; things nearly dead,
hopelessly lost or otherwise totally unwanted. These sculptures serve
as metaphors for our own social malaise and our general struggle for
survival. They mimic inner states of desolation, panic, ambivalence and
despair; frequent conditions associated with trying to locate ones self
within our social world.
The chimpanzee has for some years been a figure in Matelli’s work as a
stand in for the human id or the human subconscious. For this
exhibition he uses them to depict a violently upended social order: the
poor eating the rich, the weak overtaking the powerful. Similarly,
another ongoing project is Weeds, made in bronze to look exactly like
the real thing and surreptitiously placed in the gallery. The weed, as
always, is a persistent unwanted intruder and Matelli uses them as an
emblem of struggle, and perseverance. They celebrate debasement and
mock cultivation, an impulse that is simultaneously political and
deeply personal.
Also in this exhibition is a sculpture called Fuck It, Free Yourself. A
small sculpture of burning money casually set on a plain domestic table.
It is perhaps the most direct example of Matelli’s new ambivalent social
order.
Tony Matelli can currently be seen in Cinq Milliards d’annees at
the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (until Dec 31, 2006). Upcoming projects
include Into Me/Out of Me, KW Berlin institute of Contemporary Art,
Hysteria Siberiana, Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art, Lisbon,
Evolution: Tony Matelli/Alexis Rockman, Contemporary Arts Center,
Cincinnati, Still Life, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New
Zealand, Die Macht der Dinge - The Power of Things, Georg-Kolbe-Museum,
Berlin.
Opening: Thursday October 26 at 5 - 8 pm
Andrehn-Schiptjenko
Markvardsgatan 2 - Stockholm
Gallery is open Tuesdays-Fridays 11 am - 5 pm, Saturdays 12 - 5 pm.