Tony Matelli: Lecture Question/Response

Q: Some of your best known work (“Old Enemy; New Victim”, “Josh”, and “Sleepwalker”, for example) share elements of hyper-realism. Do you think these pieces would have been as successful if you approached them in a less representational manner, as you did in work like “Double Meat Head” and “Double Veg. Man”?

Q: Can you explain how you handle creating conceptual pieces like “Fuck It, Free Yourself!” and “The Idiot”? It seems like you must approach them with a completely different studio practice. 

• Matelli was a really interesting speaker. He opened up his lecture with some thoughts on sculpture. He explained that sculpture “takes our place”. It holds a presence unlike any other art form because it shares the same plane as us. After thinking about what he said, I definitely think it holds true, and it may even explain why I have always been a bit averted by the medium.

Three words that define Matelli’s practice and artwork:

• Opposite: as seen in “Couple”. The idea of romantic love is juxtaposed with a starving couple.

• Empty: Matelli explores the idea of emptiness through “The Idiot” (exploring the idea of how alcohol is a way to temporarily empty your mind) and “Josh”

• Vulnerability: as seen in “Stray Dog”. Matelli states that it was “not like any other public art work” because the subject was lost, vulnerable, weak. “Sleepwalk” conveys the same message.

Later in the lecture, Matelli was telling a story about a colleague of his in undergrad. One day his friend came up to him and said, “Tony, you know, you’re such an interesting guy, but your work, it’s just… so… dry. So dull”. Matelli admitted that after this was revealed to him, he completely switched gears and experimented with different subject matter until he found something that was right for him. It was pretty inspirational to hear a world renowned artist admit that at one point, he was less than mediocre. It was a relief to hear that at any point, you can change the direction of your work. It is evident that Matelli still takes what his friend said to heart. Towards the end of his lecture, he told us that he is interested in his work “losing its focus”. 

I don’t believe that “Ideal Woman” is Matelli’s most compelling piece, however, after hearing him talk about it, my opinion changed greatly. I had somewhat of an idea about what the piece was communicating. The Hustler “blow job machine” can be seen easily. It was really interesting to hear the conceptualization behind it. “Exploring the elasticity of a relationship” didn’t cross my mind until he revealed the meaning during the lecture. It seems like modeling the sculpture after his girlfriend would inherently test such elasticity.