Francesca (2020)
in collaboration with David Ctiborsky
60 x 92 cms
cotton threads on linen
Un Millénaire (2020)
in collaboration with David Ctiborsky
60 x 92 cms
cotton threads on linen
Lyrebird (2020)
in collaboration with David Ctiborsky
60 x 92 cms
cotton threads on linen
Un Millénaire (detail) (2020)
in collaboration with David Ctiborsky
60 x 92 cms
cotton threads on linen
10 minutes with Textile Artist Cecile Davidovici
Where are you from and where do you live now?
I was born in Paris and spent my all life here, apart from a year in New York for my studies and some months in Buenos Aires because my mother is from there.
What is your background in textile art?
I went to film school so my obsession with textile arrived only a few years ago. I did a short one week programm at Lesage, a wonderful embroidery school in Paris where I learnt a lot of different classical stitches. But to be honest, I completely forgot most of the things I learnt there. I don’t use classical stitches at all so I consider myself a self taught artist. Learning by doing and experimenting over and over again. That’s the best school to my opinion.
How do you describe your work?
I am on a constant exploration. My embroidery technique is not very classical as, like I said before, I don’t use the most common stitches. My style requires mostly freestyle embroidery. I follow the movement of the faces or piece of clothes I’m embroidering. I focus on the light with my choice of colours. My first plastic project was based on my family home VHS videos filmed by my parents. My second one, made in collaboration with David Ctiborsky is a very different thing. We came up with the concept together and then David created the piece with a CGI software, adding wind and gravity to a virtual piece of fabric, so that it would become what we were looking for. It’s only after I embroidered the piece, giving it a new birth.
Quite recently I started doing portraits. I’ve been afraid of them for a long time and I don’t know what happened, something clicked in my head. I am now obsessed with the skin and its textures. I can’t wait to explore more.
How long does a piece take?
It really depends on the work but most of my thread paintings are at least a one month.