Tony Matelli: New Gravity: Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA

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.