‘Friends of the Pod,’ an enjoyable group exhibition at Broadway Gallery in Tribeca featuring artists linked to a podcast hosted by advisor Benjamin Godsill and Vanity Fair art columnist Nate Freeman opens with this wonderfully weird assemblage by Tony Matelli. Anyone who knows Matelli’s sculpture knows to mistrust what they see; the master of trompe l’oeil has produced realistic human bodies and floral arrangements that appear to float upside down as well as pieces of what look to be classical statuary that include pieces of fruit and vegetables. Traditionally understood in European painting as a warning of mortality, perfect fruits and flowers point to the inevitability of what will come next. Matelli’s veg avoids this fate while triumphing over a human head that no longer stands upright. (On view through Feb 3rd).
