Tony Matelli Chicago, IL, USA, b. 1971
Female Sleepwalker, 2008
Epoxy, hair, color, steel, underwear
160 × 75 × 55 cm
Further images
Matelli’s famous work Sleepwalker was first publicly installed outside Wellesley College, hosting a concurrent exhibition of his work at Wellesley’s Davis Museum. Public reaction to sculpture was similar to that...
Matelli’s famous work Sleepwalker was first publicly installed outside Wellesley College, hosting a concurrent exhibition of his work at Wellesley’s Davis Museum. Public reaction to sculpture was similar to that of some people’s to Anthony Gormley’s figure placed near a ledge on the Empire State Building being called in to emergency services as a jumper. The college students claimed that the sculpture produced apprehension, fear, and triggering thoughts about sexual assault on the all-women’s campus. In 2016, New York’s High Line hosted Sleepwalker’s next major public debut.
This time, the context was strikingly different: There was a celebration about the piece being up there. Sleepwalker was surrounded by tourists taking pictures with the sculpture. Turning into a hit on social media, in two years, Sleepwalker had transitioned from an alleged menace to a selfie prop.
‘What they see in the sculpture is not in the sculpture...’
In a female version of Sleepwalker (2009) the emotions to the statue are being pushed aside in favor of having a discussion about art, a question that Matelli called ‘issues of modesty and Victorian ideas people have about the human body’. Why did the nude male Sleepwalker create such angst, whereas nude female version has presumably not? This reaction can also indicate a larger problem: Why a half-nude man sculpture inspires such fear when the woman in her most natural appearance causes the sense of insecurity and defenselessness. What is most threatening about Sleepwalker is its reminder of how vulnerable and exposed we often are when we lose the illusion control of what is happening around us.
This time, the context was strikingly different: There was a celebration about the piece being up there. Sleepwalker was surrounded by tourists taking pictures with the sculpture. Turning into a hit on social media, in two years, Sleepwalker had transitioned from an alleged menace to a selfie prop.
‘What they see in the sculpture is not in the sculpture...’
In a female version of Sleepwalker (2009) the emotions to the statue are being pushed aside in favor of having a discussion about art, a question that Matelli called ‘issues of modesty and Victorian ideas people have about the human body’. Why did the nude male Sleepwalker create such angst, whereas nude female version has presumably not? This reaction can also indicate a larger problem: Why a half-nude man sculpture inspires such fear when the woman in her most natural appearance causes the sense of insecurity and defenselessness. What is most threatening about Sleepwalker is its reminder of how vulnerable and exposed we often are when we lose the illusion control of what is happening around us.
Exhibitions
Naturally Naked. Gary Tatintsian Gallery. Aug–Dec, 2019People. Jeffrey Deitch Projects, Los Angeles, CA, 2019
People. Jeffrey Deitch Projects, New York, NY, 2018
Tony Matelli – A Human Echo. Kunstmuseene Bergen, Norway, 2013
Tony Matelli – A Human Echo. ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, 2012
Uppsala Art Museum, 2009
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