When J and I went to Wellesley College to visit the greenhouse several weekends ago, we made a point to see Tony Matelli’s “Sleepwalker,” which has garnered lots of attention since he was unveiled outside the Davis Museum last month. I refer to the sleepwalker as a “him” rather than an “it” because this statue has acquired an almost-celebrity status after controversy erupted over his presence at the all-women’s college.
Critics of Matelli’s “Sleepwalker” argue he should be installed inside (or removed from campus entirely) because the sight of an eerily realistic half-naked man looming with arms outstretched might be triggering to survivors of sexual assault. I’m no expert on the subject of post-traumatic stress, but I can say this much: Matelli’s sleepwalker is unbelievably creepy. When J and I set out on foot to find him, we had only a vague sense of where he might be located…but the second J spotted him, there was no mistaking him. Matelli’s statue doesn’t look like a statue: he looks like a man standing on the side of the road in his underwear. Had we not known the sleepwalker was a statue, I’m sure we would have veered around him, doing anything in our power to avoid the creepy half-naked guy on the other side of the street.
But once you know the sleepwalker isn’t real, does he still seem threatening? Art is full of nude and semi-nude figures. Would Michelangelo’s “David” be frightening to survivors of sexual assault, given he’s entirely nude and armed with a slingshot? Few would suggest Michelangelo’s “David” isn’t art because he is gorgeous, and eye-pleasing nudes have long been considered worthy subjects for a sculptor’s attention. But a flabby, pale-skinned guy with a paunch calls into question our notion of “art” because his form is obviously not idealized. This isn’t an Adonis or even an Everyman; instead, it’s some random guy with a sleep disorder.
Imagining myself as an undergraduate walking back to my dorm after dark, I’m guessing I’d startle the first time I saw a statue like the sleepwalker looming near my path…but I’d probably grow used to him, realizing this half-naked guy doesn’t pose the same threat as other half-naked guys. Seeing Matelli’s “Sleepwalker” in the light of day on a quiet Sunday afternoon, I was struck by how vulnerable he looked. Perhaps I was swayed by the slushy puddle he was standing in, but instead of seeing him as a potential sexual predator, I couldn’t help but see him as a poor schlub who’s going to catch his death of cold if someone doesn’t cover him with a sweater or shirt.
Up close, Matelli’s “Sleepwalker” is alarmingly realistic. His skin is blotchy and prickled with goosebumps, and you can see the veins in his hands and the dirt under his fingernails. This verisimilitude is exactly what makes the sleepwalker creepy. Why would anyone in their right mind cast a statue that looks exactly like an average, ordinary person, and why would any college agree to display such a piece out in the open, right alongside a major campus thoroughfare?
“He looks like something from the morgue,” one man remarked after having pulled his car to the side of the road to take pictures. In the brief time we spent looking at this man-in-briefs, J and I saw a half-dozen onlookers in cars or on foot stop to investigate (and take photos of) the statue. Nobody seemed frightened by him, but many seemed to be bemused, taking the requisite cell-phone shots, with or without themselves posed for a selfie. Whether or not his presence is welcome at Wellesley, the sleepwalker has proven to be popular with sightseers, dog-walkers, passing pedestrians, and at least one blogger, all of whom want to stop, stare, and figure out what all the fuss is about.
Sometimes in my literature classes, I pose the question “What is art,” and Tony Matelli’s “Sleepwalker” silently asks the same question. Is art limited to depictions of pretty people or figures so stylized, we’d never mistake them for an actual person? Can art replicate in almost exact verisimilitude the pockmarks and imperfects of an actual person, or must art necessarily be idealized? In debating these questions with my students, we’d often decide that intentionality is key: if an artist is trying to make a statement, even a fire extinguisher hanging on a wall can be “art.” If you believe art is anything that invites discussion and debate, Tony Matelli’s “Sleepwalker” has certainly achieved that aim.
Mar 10, 2014 at 5:10 pm
For me, it’s both creepy, and art, and well, disturbingly vague. As an abuse survivor, I don’t find it threatening or triggering, or more aptly put, as an abuse survivor, there are thousands of triggers that can assault the memories of the mind in any given direction; this particular example is no more or less triggering than any other. I can see why it makes people uncomfortable, but as someone who appreciates a variety of forms of artistic expression, I have to at least appreciate that it elicits some response, one way or another. Not my particular cup of tea, but as an example of dedication to detail and in the spirit of causing the viewer to feel something, it has succeeded in that respect.
The layers that might be added by it being installed at an all-women’s college were most likely intentional, and even though I personally find it creepy and unappealing, and wouldn’t love having to see it every day, the one thing that can’t be denied is that is does get your attention. Art, in my opinion, asks us to notice it. We did, and thanks for sharing (especially the wide array of photos that allow us to see it from different angles, and up close).
Ironically, the photo with Jay standing next to the piece had the effect of it losing all of the creepy for me – perhaps Jay’s smile became the center of my focus, and the rest of it became nothing more than a prop in the photo. In that particular photo, The Sleepwalker was not the star, and thereby lost the entirety of his creep factor. Not sure if that makes any sense, but for what it’s worth, that was my take on the series of photos. You have always delivered on posting interesting photos; these continue the tradition.
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Mar 11, 2014 at 11:11 am
Thank you, ntexas99, for the thoughtful comment! You confirm something I’d suspected about post-traumatic triggers, and that’s the fact that UNEXPECTED triggers are the most troubling. Yes, I can see how this particular statue could be upsetting…but I also imagine that many other, seemingly innocuous things could serve as triggers, too. The world is full of triggers, so we need to be sensitive to others’ and our own reactions.
It’s funny you mention the photo with J because it’s obviously a humorous take on the piece, and when we got home, I made it the desktop background on my laptop. At first, looking at it made me laugh…but after seeing it for a few days, I started to find it more creepy than funny. In my case, the creepiness comes from the fact that the sleepwalker looks dead rather than threatening, giving the image a “Weekend at Bernie’s” vibe. I’ve since changed my desktop background to an image of J in the greenhouse, which is more spring-like and less creepy. So who knows how I’d feel about this statue if I had to pass it on campus every day.
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Mar 11, 2014 at 7:44 am
as above, i think that it is or could be triggering, however, hiding from a trigger isn’t the way, that leads to more burying instead of coping, dealing and moving on…this is an opportunity for exposure and an inanimate object
i think it might be neat to think of it as how men sleepwalk through noticing and understanding women. It’s an odd stereotype. Perhaps too, one that isn’t true. I think for skill of art value it’s amazing!
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Mar 11, 2014 at 11:20 am
Elisa, I love your idea of men sleepwalking their way around women! This fellow definitely looks both clueless and out of place.
I tell my lit students they should pay attention and ask “why” whenever they encounter something odd in a text, and I think that approach works with art, as well. Yes, it’s odd to have a realistic statue of a half-naked male sleepwalker installed on the campus of an all-women’s college…so WHY is that odd?
Do we think there has never been a half-naked man at Wellesley, or that men (naked or not) don’t “belong” there? Would it have been more or less creepy to install this statue in one of the dorms, where it’s conceivable that someone’s boyfriend could be sleeping over, but where his presence could definitely be seen as an invasion?
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Mar 14, 2014 at 7:10 am
I used to argue with my instructor. I didn’t like swallowing what people had decided for a writer was his/her intent and wishes. If I see or if I feel something within a piece, it is mine and it is individual. That feeling that I own might be true and matching the creator’s intent or not.
I wonder how much more value the effect of a work to mirror, to influence and even to trigger the inner prod of choosing to use such a tool as a way of processing and acting in life–than simple, perhaps stuffy, words uttered by someone attempting to teach me what I was supposed to garner.
As to a response to your last paragraph:
The man or not man presence to me is irrelevant data. I do not think like that, so therefore cannot honestly put myself in a place to find real answers. In fact, I am frowning at the shove at me that I ought to be shocked in some fashion, especially in some way that I might need to adopt a modesty that I do not have, in order to try to feel or to be creepy or as to a sense of belonging or not. Perhaps to me, such things are simply observations that I might make, or ones that I might not, at such a time when I would literally be seeing or doing them. I don’t have a sense of not-belonging, creepiness, or of invasion. I think that sort of thinking is from a background of shelter and of fear that isn’t real and that can and does perpetuate discrimination and separation, and not in a good way. I think that there is a vast difference between expressions of hate(and all of the reasons hate is expressed) and discernment or opinion. One creates healthy thought, consideration and amusement, the other can go all of the way to war.
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Mar 12, 2014 at 11:59 am
I also like Elisa’s interpretation. It’s definitely an intriguing sculpture — I wouldn’t say I like it, but we don’t have to like art, do we? I think of art in the same way you defined it in your last sentence — anything that invites us to new consideration or discussion or contemplation.
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Mar 12, 2014 at 6:10 pm
Interpretation is quite powerful. Thanks for sharing the statue & your remarks. I, for one, find it quite eery as well. Yet, it does make a statement.
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Mar 13, 2014 at 1:40 pm
Wow, looks like he will get a massive cold for all this excitement.
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Mar 13, 2014 at 2:49 pm
It seems to me that the more possible it becomes to replicate still life with computers and 3D printers the less likely we are to see things like this a art. It is a bit like tracing or photo copying. At first blush this looks a lot like a photo copy to me.
As I think about it though I can make the argument that art also has something to do with placement and context. As an example I could place a photo of Mickey Mouse on the door of an administrators office and that might be considered to be art commenting on their behavior. Rude, over the top, but… art? This “sculpture” may be a commentary or pointing out some issue.
Or maybe it’s just funny. 🙂
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Mar 13, 2014 at 4:03 pm
I love how this art has caused so much emotion!
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Mar 13, 2014 at 4:51 pm
I’ve seen this, not in person, and I love it. This artist is a genius. I’m jealous I didn’t think of it. 🙂
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Mar 13, 2014 at 4:54 pm
yep. Ugly mannequins are art too in the modern / postmodern age. We have Woman Facing Wall by John DeAndre at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art. When artists have no real skill they rely on shock to get your attention. How much did this artist have to pay to put it there?
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Mar 13, 2014 at 4:57 pm
I don’t see this as art but it is creepy. Something from the “walking dead” maybe? yuck.
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Mar 13, 2014 at 4:58 pm
OMG, this is amazing. I love your take on “the sleep walker” statue. When I saw this post, at first glance I wondered, “What is this?” laughing. Then, I read your piece, now I can say that”I love it!” Art is about the “Shock Factor,” and the unexplained. Thanks for sharing.
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Mar 13, 2014 at 5:02 pm
I do not go with the idea it is art. It is a misrepresentation of an attempt of some kind of art. Warhol is like that. To me art is not crap on a stick, stuff that can be hung upside down and people who and ah but do not have an idea what it is.
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Mar 13, 2014 at 5:15 pm
Just another example of the stupid things that humans beings of the stupid type can get up to when they do not have a proper job.
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Mar 14, 2014 at 6:17 am
Judge much?
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Mar 14, 2014 at 6:57 am
Art asks for preference and for opinion. One is numb and dead without the inner spark of knowing how one feels about things and expressing them.
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Mar 14, 2014 at 7:17 am
hehehe…IS a man sleepwalking if he does not subscribe to the feel-good trend of ooooooooooo let us not do anything that is honest, let us not judge anything..look awayyyyyyy from the honesty 🙂 The idea has me giggling at another interpretation of the subject. I just hovered over the gravatar image Cyrus Quick above and thought of the steady-calm work ethic man who is just not interested in following along with such ‘rubbish.’ I love it! What does a person miss when one is in that state. Age is a very interesting thing. Even the loose wrinkle of the gutchies says things about us and about the ‘man’.
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Mar 14, 2014 at 4:57 pm
Just to clarify my two word reply of “Judge much?” to the comment of Cyrus Quick: a 30 second Google search has revealed that Mr. Matelli received his MFA from the prestigious Cranbrook Academy. In addition, he has guest lectured at impressive universities across the country. He has had over 40 solo exhibitions. Irrespective of ones opinion of his subject matter in the “Sleepwalker” piece, it is impossible to deny that Mr. Matelli has a pretty good grasp of human anatomy and detail. With these facts in mind, it seems inaccurate for Cyrus to label him “the stupid type”, nor is it appropriate to infer that just because he does not punch a clock somewhere, that Mr. Matelli does not in fact work very hard at what he does.
That being said, everyone is entitled to their opinion, regardless of how uninformed it may seem.
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Mar 15, 2014 at 7:27 am
Thank you! I might have thought to ask what you meant before. Please forgive my own assumption. I appreciate the clarification of your intent and thought processes.
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Mar 15, 2014 at 2:23 pm
What a splendid reply from you! Let me re-phrase my reaction to the tiresome object: “I dislike this intensely and I cannot believe that anyone will, or can, derive anything positive from it.”
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Mar 15, 2014 at 2:26 pm
An eloquent re-phrasing, Cyrus! I think your opinion has validity and considerably more weight in its new format.
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Mar 14, 2014 at 3:17 am
Reblogged this on Reymark Cuenca.
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Mar 14, 2014 at 6:55 am
[…] Big man on campus. […]
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Mar 14, 2014 at 10:44 am
Reblogged this on Joshua Dontae.
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Mar 14, 2014 at 11:10 am
Man this kid be facked
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Mar 14, 2014 at 4:46 pm
I heard a bit on the radio, not long ago, about a cleaning woman in Italy that threw away “Expensive Modern Art”. The funny part is that she simply thought it was trash. She saw cookies, newspaper, and cardboard as trash. However, these things were valued at about $15000! Apparently this wasn’t the first time the artist had his “art” thrown away.
Not everybody will agree that something is art.
I think the sleepwalker is rather creative.
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Mar 14, 2014 at 7:25 pm
I would love to have this, it would be the most awesome thing ever to have it in my yard on Halloween just throw some blood on it and it would be perfect
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Mar 14, 2014 at 9:57 pm
Yeah a bit creepy but genius too! Thank you for giving us all something to think about it. Half naked sleepwalkers all the way baby!
dailyquizquestion.wordpress.com
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Mar 14, 2014 at 10:01 pm
Reblogged this on morganallison and commented:
Still learning what I can and cannot say. Whilst my comments are supposed to be alienating “real” people, there is no one else there to help me wrangle in my sleep disordered, unconscious loved one. Why is something realistic so scary?
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Mar 15, 2014 at 12:57 am
lol
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Mar 15, 2014 at 4:16 pm
toddcbrown makes an interesting point above in reference to computers, 3D printers, and representation art. Is “art” simply about replicating something in lifelike detail? Then photocopiers, cell phone cameras, and (yes) 3D printers are more “artistic” than all the colors in an abstract artist’s palette.
Assuming we “can” replicate things in intricate detail, the question that arises is WHY we choose to do so. If a sculptor replicates a sleepwalker, that is “art”…but if the sleepwalker took a selfie, would that too qualify?
It takes a lot of artistry to create an anatomically correct medical model, but we don’t typically consider those to be “art” because their use is practical. So is the sleepwalker “art” mainly because he DOESN’T have any practical use other than inspiring debate?
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Mar 15, 2014 at 7:10 pm
Reblogged this on Fashion.
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Mar 16, 2014 at 10:38 am
Oh big fucky old man
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Mar 16, 2014 at 7:41 pm
Weirdly realistic… why on a women’s campus??
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Mar 17, 2014 at 5:01 am
a warning about married life ! ;o)
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Mar 17, 2014 at 3:03 am
Great article! do you mind sharing my newest blog? that would be great! thank you so much and keep up the good work, heres the link to my blog http://mommagurudotcom.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/momma-gurus-here/
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Mar 17, 2014 at 4:59 am
Matelli said that he knows of no plans to move the statue.
“It was placed there because you can see it from the upstairs exhibition room, and it becomes part of the show in a different way, when you see him through the window while you’re warm inside looking at the other 20 sculptures, that one feels more misplaced, and more vulnerable.”
so there you have it, the quintessential American angst, a middle aged man in underpants sleep walking, no doubt completely unaware this is a side effect of the combination of the 6,300 meds he is now on ! :o)(
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Mar 17, 2014 at 10:35 am
Some people just don’t seem to have the imagination like some artists do. I see it as something that had to have taken loads of time and effort for it to be placed there is awesome, but as I was reading that it would be difficult for those with PTSD. I hope that it stays right where it is to draw the attention to the place. Perhaps it can be a publicity thing for another area?! I don’t know but I do know that being a cosplayer, artist, and general lifer to all things art I see if as something beautiful that must have taken a extremely trained eye to get that done. Props to the artist! Great post!
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Mar 17, 2014 at 11:08 am
I think he needs some cloths
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Mar 17, 2014 at 9:38 pm
not pretty enough for you ! : o()
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Mar 18, 2014 at 7:23 pm
Is he life?
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Mar 19, 2014 at 10:55 am
Reblogged this on mintvalf.
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Mar 20, 2014 at 3:07 pm
Wow! This is a great piece of writing and I enjoyed the subject
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Mar 21, 2014 at 8:41 pm
Thank you for sharing such great close ups of the controversial statue. I read about it and appreciated your post. Similar controversy I wrote in recent blog about the “homeless Jesus”. Sue
Womenlivinglifeafter50.com
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Mar 26, 2014 at 1:09 am
It certainly evokes reaction. I am more interested in the placement of this piece on campus than in the ‘is it art’ debate. Will the women feel pity and bring him a hat, or a sweater or robe? Will he earn a school t-shirt or other token of affection the way campus statuary here sometimes does? Would they drape him with Mardi Gras beads or put a rubber ducky in his hand?
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Mar 26, 2014 at 9:13 pm
Thank you for showing me this sculpture……
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