New York master craftsmen’s gallery Les Ateliers Courbet opens its fall exhibition program with Italian artist Mauro Mori’s new 'Portraits' series — on view September 30 - November 4. The artist’s third solo exhibition with the gallery will unveil Mori’s latest functional works of art developed in collaboration with Ateliers Courbet founder Melanie Courbet over the past two years. The series consists of unique sculptural tables and daybeds, hand-carved by the artist in Albizia Rosa wood in his Seychelles studio. 'Portraits' also includes three limited-edition stone tables — smaller iterations of the original, wood consoles, sculpted by the artist in limestone in his Milan studio.

For over thirty years, Italian sculptor-designer Mauro Mori (b. 1965, Cremona, Italy) has built a cohesive body of work including sculptures both functional and non-functional, hand-carved in stone or wood, or molded in metal. The artist uses time-honored techniques as he sculpts each of his pieces. Mori has drawn inspiration from his extensive travels around the world, his sensitivity for the natural environment, and the timeless beauty of simple, archetypal, and organic forms. While he discovered his vocation when sculpting wood in the Seychelles where he lives half of the year, Mori was trained as a traditional wood and stone artisan in his native Italy. The maturity of his work today reflects the artist’s ongoing
research and explorations across mediums and sculpting techniques.

“My work is deeply informed by my longstanding interest in the symbols omnipresent throughout civilizations and historical periods, up until today. Whether sought in historical periods or in nature, these elements of inspiration eventually translate into a contemporary and very personal language.” — Mauro Mori

The 'Portraits' series results from a two-year collaboration between the artist and Ateliers Courbet founder Melanie Courbet as part of the gallery’s new Editions Courbet program. The program, creatively directed by Melanie Courbet, aims to further support today’s rarefied master artisans by creating and supporting new bodies of work and fostering or initiating new collaborations with contemporary artists.

“'Portraits' is close to my heart as Mauro Mori and I have spent extensive hours discussing the creative direction, the materials, drawing inspiration from the artistic periods and sources that Mauro and I have long shared. The boldest example being the Cycladic and Primitive Arts forms, which can be found both in his body of work and in the gallery’s selection and curatorial choices. 'Portraits' is also a particular capsule as part of the Editions Courbet Program, in that Mauro is both the artist and the craftsman behind the work.”- Melanie Courbet