Tony Matelli

Tony Matelli works in a variety of sculptural techniques and materials, his œuvre displaying an uncanny fusion of conceptual clarity and technical breadth. Many issues of his generation — alienation, ambivalence, and decadence — manifest themselves directly in his work. His sculptures possess a concision and frankness that can seem both crass and profound. There is an element of provocation in Matelli’s work; a protest against playing by the universally accepted rules or conventions that exist as an inseparable part of the world that surrounds us. His sculptures can best be described as anti-monuments, re-interpreting the tradition of hyperrealism in American sculpture.

Tony Matelli born 1971 in Chicago, lives and works in Brooklyn. Recent institutional solo exhibitions include I Hope All Is Well… at 500 Capp Street, San Francisco, USA (2018), Hera at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, USA (2017) New Gravity, The Davis Museum, Wellesley College, Massachusetts (2014) A Human Echo, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark and Bergen Kunstmuseum, Bergen, Norway (2012-2013).

In 2023 Tony Matelli exhibited in Hyper Sensible, Un regard sur la sculpture hyperréaliste at Musée d’Arts de Nantes as well as in Reshaped Reality: 50 Years of Hyperrealistic Sculpture at Palazzo Bonaparte, Rome, Italy.