June 10 - July 23, 2011
“Sculptures”
with work by: Virginie Barré, Jean Dupuy, Asger Jorn, Tony Matelli, Bruno Peinado,
Werner Reiterer, Alina Szapocznikow, Morgane Tschiember
Tony Matelli’s work thrives on dualities. He engages both the real and the imagined, both
the personal and the political. Like floating coins in a bucket of water, all of Matelli’s work embraces the simplicity, sometimes absurdity of everyday, questioning the social order, while relishing the magic.
Conceived as an outdoor piece “The Idiot” is a bronze sculpture of an old Budweiser
beer box mounted on the wall. Possibly a leftover from a drunken night, the box with two punched holes suggests a provisional head or effigy. A town drunk. The village idiot. Emptied of its original contents, Matelli has made this hollow head home to birds, who live, eat and shit within it. Flying in and out of the eyes of “The Idiot” and through the gallery, the birds function as visual thought bubbles. The gallery is no longer filled with empty space—dead space—it is now
filled with “Idiot” space.
In his sculptures entitled “Yesterday”, Matelli renders elaborate structures from playing cards, beer cans, cold pizza and cigarette butts. These monuments to wasted time appear perpetually verged on total collapse, their attraction a result of their seemingly built-in failure.
Composed of polychrome bronze, “Yesterday” is a kind of cairn to the future, a testament to the pursuance of catastrophe.
Opening hours: Tues – Sat, 11am-7pm and by appointment.
Press contact: Alexandra Schillinger, alexandra@loevenbruck.com
t 01 82 28 38 22,
assisted by Clio Lavau, factory@loevenbruck.com