A year after Lyuben Zidarov’s previous exposition in Nuance Gallery (“The Old Man and Three Seas”), and 40 years after he set foot in Paris – the dream of every artist, the painter launched yet another exhibition in the same place. Actually the places are two: the one is his January-held exhibition in Paris; and the second one – the current exhibition in Nuance.

A painter should by vocation be an explorer – either in the reality of daily life or across his own imagination. Lyuben Zidarov has always been capable of being in both places simultaneously. In his case direct perception registers not so much the vision of the tangible, but rather the image of the emotion upon coming across it. He has many times shared that his first contact with Paris has awaken the painter in him, previously concealed behind the ego of the illustrator. This exhibition is homage to the city of art and to the world for which it still has a  significance. True to the traditional predilection for playing with words and images, in this exposition Lyuben Zidarov is again jesting with the quasi unchangeable run of time: the “reverse harmony” of Paris of four decades ago and the then young painter rushing in pursuit of his artistic discoveries, versus the mature artist, unexpectedly coming upon his youth in the face of a rejuvenated city known-and-unknown, old and young, just like art itself and the craving for it.

Photos: Ani Petrova