The Davis proudly presents the first solo exhibition at a U.S. museum by sculptor Tony Matelli (b. Chicago, 1971). Highlighting recent works from the past five years as well as new works created specifically for the Davis, the selection focuses on the artist’s discursive use of time, ambivalence, banality, and wonder. In these works, the three material states—solid, liquid, and vapor—are inextricably conflated with their existential equivalents. In Matelli’s work, the physical laws of objects are often reversed, upended or atomized, and with these deft manipulations of matter and gravity come profound reorientations in perspective and ultimately, states of being. Staged dramatically among galleries on two floors of the Davis, the exhibition will also extend beyond the museum walls to sculptures sited outdoors on campus.

Tony Matelli’s work is in numerous private collections and in public collections that include the Cranbrook Art Museum; FLAG Art Foundation; ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum; the National Centre of Contemporary Art, Moscow; Fundacion La Caixa Madrid; Museum Ludwig, Cologne, and the Uppsala Konstmuseum, Sweden. Recent solo exhibitions have been presented at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin and the Palais de Tokyo, Paris. A mid-career survey, Tony Matelli: A Human Echo, premiered at the ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Denmark in 2012 and traveled to the Bergen Kunstmuseum, Norway in 2013. The artist lives and works in Brooklyn, and is represented by Marlborough Chelsea, New York and Andréhn-Schiptjenko, Stockholm.

Curated by Lisa Fischman, Ruth Gordon Shapiro '37 Director of the Davis, Tony Matelli: New Gravity and the accompanying exhibition catalogue are generously supported by Wellesley College Friends of Art and the Anonymous '70 Endowed Davis Museum Program Fund.

Tony Matelli, Josh, 2010, silicone, steel, hair, and clothing, 72 x 30 x 22 in. Hall Collection.