Provenance
MARUANI MERCIER Gallery, Brussels
Catalogue Essay
‘The weed is a triumph and a failure at the same time. Weeds persevere; you can’t kill them. They are celebration of unwantedness.’ - Tony Matelli

Born in Chicago in 1971, Tony Matelli is a New York-based artist whose hyper-realistic, meticulously rendered sculptures challenge the physical potential of bronze, pushing the medium to its limits. Often representing challenging or subversive subjects, Matelli explores themes such as the connection between human beings and our understanding of life and death, identity and our relationship to culture, societal values and sense of place. 565 comes from the artist’s series of Weeds, a subject that persists in his oeuvre, as symbols of both life and decay, as well as treading the boundary between beauty and neglect.

‘I don’t think people initially engage with them as sculpture, I think people initially engage with them as real weeds, which allows them to function in the mind of the viewer as real interlopers, strange and out of place … I intended it to be about how things are valued and how we assign value in culture. What is a weed and what’s a cultivated plant? What is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour? What belongs here and not there? For me, it was more about situational or contextual correctness, and other things, too, like feeling out of place, or persistence.’

The last two years have seen Matelli the subject of two important solo exhibitions, Arrangements at Nino Mier Gallery, LA (2022) and Timelines, Maruani Mercier Gallery, Belgium (2023). His works have been included extensively in many major international institutions including the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Uppsala Museum, Sweden, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, The Davis Museum, Wellesley, MA, Kunsthalle, Vienna, and Bergen Kunstmuseum, Norway.

13

Tony Matelli

565

painted bronze
64.8 x 27.9 x 20.3 cm (25 1/2 x 10 7/8 x 7 7/8 in.)
Executed in 2020.

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1
Andy Warhol
Two works: i-ii) Flowers
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2
Stephan Vanfleteren
Marine Oostduinkerke 3
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3
Stephan Vanfleteren
Marine Oostduinkerke 2
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4
Stephan Vanfleteren
Marine Oostduinkerke 1
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5
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6
Walter Swennen
Untitled
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7
Léon Spilliaert
Marine with sunset
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8
Ettore Spalletti
Grigio, oro
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9
Sterling Ruby
ASHTRAY 30
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10
Sterling Ruby
SP73
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11
Loïc Raguénès
Les Parfums de la Nuit
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12
Joan Miro
Sans titre
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13
Tony Matelli
565
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14
Robert Mapplethorpe
Waves
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15
Sol LeWitt
Untitled
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16
Sol LeWitt
Tangled Bands
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17
Laurens Legiers
A Snail's Journey
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18
Titus Kaphar
Untitled Tar Piece
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19
Hans Hartung
T1971-H50
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20
David Hammons
Head warmer
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21
Gilbert & George
Piss Piss Piss
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22
Bernard Frize
Obias
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23
Peter Dreher
Tag um Tag guter Tag (Day by Day good Day) Nr. 2520
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24
Peter Dreher
Tag um Tag guter Tag (Day by Day good Day) Nr. 2522
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25
Raoul De Keyser
Oostende (Tornado)
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26
Alexander Calder
Snakes Puzzle
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27
Alexander Calder
Crag with White Flower and White Discs
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28
Alexander Calder
L'Ile Verte
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29
Guillaume Bijl
"James Ensor in Oostende" circa 1920
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Provenance

Catalogue Essay

13

Tony Matelli

565

Summer Wave

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