Born in 1992, Mathilde Lestiboudois graduated from the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris, where she studied under Jean-Michel Alberola. She also studied at the Universitäte der Kunst in Berlin in 2016 and was recently a resident at the Casa de Velasquez in Madrid in 2021-2022.
Initially a painter, Mathilde Lestiboudois depicts empty interior spaces where architectural fragments (stairs, pools, arches, columns) and furniture objects (chairs, armchairs, sheets) intermingle on geometric backgrounds tinted with blues and greens. The always frontal compositions evoke non-places, spaces halfway between reality and imagination, floating and uncertain, and convey a precarious atmosphere between "something soothing or, on the contrary, very distressing," in the words of the artist. The human figure, although formally absent from her compositions, is nevertheless suggested by the drapery that inhabits the scenes, bringing a theatrical dimension and a tension of forthcoming or just-passed action.
Mathilde Lestiboudois's drawings made in oil on paper or oil on tracing paper constitute a corpus of works independent but parallel to her pictorial practice. Working on much tighter formats - paintings rarely being less than 100 × 140 cm while drawings do not exceed 20 × 30 cm - she carries out a different reflection on composition: although the execution is faster, the attention to the subject is more precise, more meticulous. Made without decoration, the chosen objects (column, staircase, ladder, drapery) are drawn in series, almost obsessively. Although the same object is represented several times, it is placed in a unique atmosphere. Its representation is therefore no less singular and marked by the passage of time. Mathilde Lestiboudois thus pushes the plastic research of the subject to its climax, infusing it with a supplement of soul.
Recently, her work has been shown in the group exhibitions "Allusions perdues" at the Casa de Velázquez, Académie de France in Madrid (22 October 2022 - 22 January 2023) and "¡ Viva Villa!" at the Collection Lambert in Avignon (11 November 2022 - 12 February 2023), at the Paris-B gallery (Paris) "Les Lueurs du vide", PB-Project (5 November 2022 - 17 December 2022). More recently, her work has been shown in a duo show entitled "Paradis Artificiels" at Galerie Dilecta (11 May - 10 June 2023) and in a group exhibition entitled "True Colors" at Hangar 7 in Salzburg (Austria)
Her work is currently on show in a solo exhibition entitled "Le matin des souffles", which will be dedicated to her in November at the Centre d'art Les Eglises (Chelles, France).
She is currently in residence at the POUSH Manifesto workshops (Paris).
