 Tony Matelli Andréhn-Schiptjenko has great pleasure in presenting Tony Matelli's third solo exhibition at the gallery. 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'années" 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. Exhibition: October 26 - November 25, 2006 Gallery hours: Tues-Fri 11am - 5pm, Sat noon - 5pm Andréhn-Schiptjenko Markvardsgatan 2 S-113 53 Stockholm Telephone +46 8 612 00 75 Fax +46 8 612 00 76 Email info@andrehn-schiptjenko.com www.andrehn-schiptjenko.com |
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