Li Chevalier, Ink and Soul

Pitch

Born in Beijing in 1961, Li Chevalier is a French-Chinese visual artist with a unique career and an intense body of work, fueled by a rich imagination drawing inspiration from Asian and European cultures. Using India ink, water, and sand, she composes a subtle mixture on her canvas that leaves ample room for chance and the unexpected. By reclaiming the fluidity of ink, the artist has opened a new field of aesthetic and sensory exploration, combining Eastern artistic expression with the humanistic concern that lies at the heart of Western tradition. “By shaping the ink, Li Chevalier gives it a soul, filled with horizons, figurative and abstract thoughts. To create a portrait of the artist, I followed her creative process, her questioning, and her artistic research.” Inspired by his black and white world, I chose to film the materials—black ink, water, the white canvas—in order to create poetic, unique, sometimes strange images. I sought to create a link between past and present, where the dancer Lico embodies the artist's double, his youth, and his desires. – Bernard Louargant