Michel Alexis
Michel Alexis was born in Paris and was graduated in science, then moved to a secluded hamlet in the Alps mountains where he converted a barn into a studio. He stayed there for 8 years, also traveling extensively to developing countries.
He started modeling slabs of plaster, engraved with imaginary signs, a work induced by ruins of early civilizations he had crossed. Much closer to his studio, the Art Brut Museum in Lausanne, would also stir a lasting interest. Ancient glyphs, enigmatic signs of disabled artists compelled him in a similar way, by blending a sense of beauty and mystery.
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He subsequently moved to California to join part of his family. There he started blowing up on large canvases his early experiments on plaster, using heavy acrylic paste. In 1992 he moved to New York and explored more literary concepts, starting with a series based on Gertrude Stein. This body of work led favorably to the Pollock-Krasneraward (1994) and critical notice (New York Times,1995). Then came “Alphabets” (Artnews, 2002), and “Subtracted Word” (Art in America, 2004). In 2003 he received the Elizabeth Foundation award for a series based on imaginary alphabets.
Exhibitions in public venues include:
Tree Art Museum, Beijing (solo show), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Joslyn Center of the Arts , Torrance, California (solo show), Musee Dauphinois, Grenoble, France, Artist Space, New York, Drawing Center, New York, Espace Malraux, Chambery, France (solo show), Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, Denver University (solo show), Dortmunder Kunstverein, Germany, Irvine Fine Arts Center, California, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Bates College Museum of Art, Lewiston, Maine, Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, MO.