The 6th edition of the platform for contemporary photography “Masters of Photography” presents in Sofia the exhibition FLASH by Lenny Kravitz. Part of it is also the exhibition Ascension of Mathieu Bitton, a French artist living in Los Angeles for years. He was in Sofia for the opening of the 2 photo exhibitions. This is their fourth stop after Los Angeles, Wetzlar (Germany) and Wien. They can be seen in Sofia until 7 May.

Mathieu Bitton is often dubbed the “photographer of the stars” as he seems to have worked with almost everybody in the music industry.  For this career of over 20 years, photographer, art director, and producer Mathieu Bitton has shot almost everyone: Mick Jagger, Lenny Kravitz, Bruno Mars, Pharrell Williams, Lana Del Rey, Jay Z, etc. He has designed over 700 posters, album covers, and book covers for some of the biggest names in pop culture like Quentin Tarantino, Prince, Sting, Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, Iggy Pop, Dolly Parton, Lou Reed, Taylor Swift and more.

Bitton has been awarded many prizes for his work behind the camera and as a graphic designer, but one of the most important recognitions for his work is the 2009 Grammy nomination for the box set “Cabinet of Curiosities” for Jane’s Addiction. In 2012, Bitton received one of France’s highest decorations, the medal of Chevalier Dans L’Ordre Des Arts & Lettres from the French Republic.

Mathieu Bitton has also worked on soundtracks for films like The Departed and The Transformers franchise and made his directorial debut with Looking Back on Love, a documentary that follows the making of Bitton’s long-time collaborator and photography subject Lenny Kravitz’s album, Black and White America.

But whether through art, photography, or film, it all comes back to Bitton’s love of music, which he says first started when he began collecting Prince’s albums at the age of 11. He has said that it had become an obsession: “I had to have everything and every pressing from every country.” Eventually, the photographer even got to meet his idol and later had met him several times over the years.

Over the course of time Mathieu decided instead of hiring a photographer to become one.

When asked if he considers himself an artist, he says: “I’ve always felt like an imposter. There are so many people out there more talented than I am. People say I’m an artist. I just do what I do.”

Bitton and Kravitz have worked together nearly non-stop since 2008. They’ve been friends since they were teenagers when they both moved to Los Angeles - Bitton from Paris and Kravitz from New York. Because of this, a sense of intimacy and authenticity surfaces between photographer and subject.

Of Bitton, Kravitz says: “His photographs completely capture the essence of who and what I am at that moment and he has an ability to bend the atmosphere.”

Mathieu Bitton was in Sofia for the opening of the exhibitions where he delivered a talk about photography and said he was captivated by Bulgarian hospitality.

In the interview with Mathieu Bitton, taken on the day of his arrival in Bulgaria, he tells about his impressions from Sofia and Bulgarian people, about his idol Prince (who was still alive at that time) and about how much Lenny Kravitz loves the Bulgarian audience.

English: Rossitsa Petcova