Matelli, Josh, 2010, silicone, steel, hair, urethane, clothing, 30 x 74 x 22 in
[Alone Gallery](https://www.alonegallery.com/) is a new art space in Long Island designed in response to social distancing measures, with no staff present and only one person, or one quarantined group, allowed to enter at a time. Its [second exhibition](https://mailtrack.io/trace/link/b678fa4f8413c663376e75e767dcae30eb7097a2?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.alonegallery.com%2Fspotlight%2Fspotlight-2&userId=3269407&signature=afe0d24953c83933), on view until July 12th, is a solo show from hyperrealistic sculptor Tony Matelli. Matelli is known for his _Sleepwalker_ sculpture at Wellesley College and on New York City's High Line, and he recently worked with storied high-fashion house, Maison Martin Margiela, on its Paris menswear show.
Matelli’s new exhibition depicts a man, “Josh”, in the middle of the gallery, floating in a sort of “transcendental lift-off.” He is surrounded by dusty mirrors with drawings of smiley faces, expletives, and tic tac toe games on their surfaces.
Flaunt enjoyed a quick interview with the artist, and keep the hopes alive for your own lift-off of sorts.
**You play in your work with contradictions, like making a hyper realistic sculpture in an impossible position, or a stiff body dressed in very casual garments. What does the sculpture say about discomfort?**
For me, referring to “Josh”, this is a work about the impossibility of real freedom and if such a concept is even a desirable quality. It’s an ambivalent work, either a triumphant ascension or a fall from grace.
Matelli, Josh, 2010, silicone, steel, hair, urethane, clothing, 30 x 74 x 22 in
**Is there a reason for the specific age, clothing, look of the man in the sculpture?**
I wanted to depict a regular person. The image of a regular guy, not too old or too young, because then it would somehow be about age. There needed to be nothing significant about him at all except the gesture of him floating. Anything too specific would detract from that gesture.
Matelli, Child, 2014, urethane on mirror, 60 x 96 in.
**Does age play a part in the sculpture, with the man being an adult but the mirrors portraying children’s games?**
I don’t really see the mirrors as portraying children’s games, yes one has tic tac toes on it, but the works have all kinds of marks on them. When we are confronted with an ephemeral surface like a dusty mirror we tend to scrawl the most adolescent and prurient things, because we know they are impermanent. That is in fact one of the things at work in those paintings, layers of fleeting moments made permanent.
Matelli, Tic Tac Toe, 2015, urethane on mirror, 60 x 96 in.
