BISTRA LESHEVALIER (1933)

I was born in Sofia and I would be a cellist. However, after I had a dream I landed in the fine arts and more precisely in sculpture.

In 1966 I arrived in France. My life has been associated with many trips because of the profession of Jacques, my husband. I was eager to get to know other countries, other customs. I always accompanied my husband’s trips with paper, pencils and ink. I often worked in the hotel room, I used materials that I found there, I often changed them. But always in search of the relationship between реорle, space, time and freedom.

The first exhibition was at „Alain Oudin“ in Paris in 1978. In the following years there were others. In 1986 we went to Conakry in Africa: big spaces, colors, freedom and sadness. I returned to Paris to do exhibitions at „Rosa Turetsky“ in Geneva and then returned to Africa. For years I have been doing solo and group exhibitions, as well as installations at the Rosa Turetsky Gallery.
When I returned from Africa in 1990, I installed the "Japanese mirror myth" in the crypt of "Toussaints" in "Mortagne au Perche". I consider it is the best.

In 1993 I started my travels and exhibitions in Japan. Most often with Sadaharu Horio, who is with Takesada Matsutani, one of the last members of the Japanese Gutai movement. We have done exhibitions in Kyoto, Kobei, Hiroshima, Miyajima and Paris. These were unforgettable moments. Chorio left too early. I miss him.
I wrote above that I played the cello and gave it up. I think that when I was a teenager, this musical instrument developed the sensitivity and sensuality in me. Denis Kaminade writes that "my work invites sensuality ... calls the senses". My cello is always with me.
Mitko Grozdanov organizes the International "Process - Space" Festival. I participated in 1998 in Balchik, and later in Ruse. I made another exhibition in Bulgaria as M-tel Awards for Contemporary Art in Varna curated by Irina Batkova and in Arosita Gallery in Sofia.
In 2020 I had to make an exhibition in the "Structura" gallery in Sofia. Because of covid-19, it became an online exhibition.
This year, Maria-Andre - Keller Gallery in Paris gathered its artists with an exhibition "Les un et les autres". (the ones and the others)). With medical masks, but happy to see you again. If covid-19 allows it in April, I will return to Alain Oudin, at the Enseigne des Oudins, to do a solo exhibition. Virus or not, we have to work, live and laugh.