Based in the Riviera capital for more than 60 years, sailing between France and Vietnam, but originally from Bastia, Alexis Mori82, now wants to reconnect with his roots. Painter but also sculptor trained at the Nice School of Fine Arts, he aspires to donate dozens of his achievements to the town hall of Bastiaif it dedicates a fixed and continuous exhibition space to it. Requests had already been made to this effect, 25 and 15 years ago. The artist emphasizes that the requests were unsuccessful due to lack of available space.
It is by taking a look at his imposing collection, enriched with hundreds of works, that Alexis Mori thinks again of Corsica: “I have a lot of paintings, I should think about donating them to Bastia, my city…” Around twenty years ago, Alexis Mori had already exhibited three times in Corsica, in Ajaccio and Bastia. But this time, what matters to him is leaving a permanent mark. The octogenarian wants to make a place in the city's memory as a memory, and not a simple reminiscence: “I want people to say in this city: hey, there was a painter who had an international career and he’s from Bastia!”
The inventor of lignism
Art Expo in New York, Sausalito Art Festival, Museum of Modern Art in Paris, Museum of Naive Art in Nice, Annasaule Gallery in Innsbruck and Galeria 14 in Florence: they all have one thing in common. These art places have hosted paintings by the painter Mori. His pictorial works have been included in the catalog of 300 exhibitions around the world.
The artist began a “naive and architectural” period, to switch to the dimension of lignism, in 1990. A movement straight out of his imagination. He then registered the name and the techniques with the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), which were patented in his name. In 2015, he entered a phase of contemporary art, but always linked to lines. Currently, the Bastiais is working on a new project, that of writing a book about his artistic journey. In his future plan too: to return to the island permanently. “The idea of returning to Corsica is one of my inspirations for the future”confides the octogenarian.
A return that could be made all the more easily if, on the municipality's side, we examine his proposal favorably. To be continued.
