Cécile Davidovici: An Interview With The Self Taught Embroiderer
On the occasion of her new exhibition at the EST Galerie, the self-taught embroiderer opens up about her journey and her inspirations.
Can you tell us more about your background, and how your artistic vocation was revealed?
I was a fairly introverted child who always found great comfort in stories, whether on stage thanks to the theater or later in the films that I was able to see, write or direct. For my parents, it was a matter of course to offer my sister and me the chance to do artistic activities. It was a way to shape and open our perception of the world.
After high school, I studied cinema and worked in the cinema industry for several years. In 2013, my mother passed away and writing and directing stories was no longer enough for me. It's not concrete enough, but it takes me a while to understand it. In 2018, I started embroidery completely by chance, and the evidence was immediate. I found my new medium, one that will allow me to tell my stories, but this time I will be able to touch them, feel them in the palm of my hand.
What were your major inspirations, in art but also in cinema or pop culture?
I have always been very sensitive to the attention paid to gesture and colour among the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, particularly Claude Monet and Pierre Bonnard. I like the words of Jacques Prévert and the cinema of Claude Sautet.
It also seems important to me to cite Giorgio Morandi and his ability to make silence vibrate because his work was the driving force behind our latest series of still lifes, with David Ctiborsky, which will be exhibited from October 13 at Est Galerie in Paris .
You create real paintings, but the material is textile and palpable. In what way is embroidery a special medium in your opinion, and how did you master it?
Embroidery is a wonderful, meditative and I would even say restorative medium. Even if this is changing little by little, it is still little exploited in the world of contemporary art, certainly because it is a practice seen through its domestic form. I see it clearly when I talk about my work, people are very far from visualizing what I do.
I am self-taught and I really learned and developed my way of embroidering through experimentation and research. I get bored quickly, which forces me to constantly try to go in a new direction and push the technique even further. I like the idea that spending time with the story that I embroider (and make) through the hours I spend handling it, makes it more alive and anchored in the moment.
My collaboration with David is a strong example of this need for constant research. For our four-handed exhibition, David first worked in his virtual 3D composition workshop then I embroidered the images created. We explore the dialogue between the virtual and the real and I must say that I love bringing these objects to life through wire work. This gives them a disturbing presence because something tactile is added to the visual presence.
What works would you show to someone who is unfamiliar with your work, and which you believe symbolize your style and creative identity?
Certainly two full-length portraits. The first is a self-portrait called “The Girl in the Mirror” and the second a portrait of my friend Louisa that I finished just before starting the still lifes. I believe that this new series will mark a turning point in our work with David.
On Instagram, you show off your Parisian workshop. What are the places that inspire you and nourish your imagination?
My mother, of Argentine nationality, was a great traveler. We crossed with her, bag on our back, so many countries, especially in Latin America! This obviously greatly contributed to nourishing my imagination.
Today, I like to find myself in the calm of the workshop and the solitude of creation. A little cocoon in the heart of the chaos of the city.
You are followed by many subscribers on Instagram. To what extent do you think social networks have revolutionized our daily relationship with art, and how can we manage to avoid giving in to a certain standardization that sometimes occurs on Instagram?
Instagram has allowed more direct access to art. It allowed people like me to make a living from their work without going through a traditional career path.
I think the standardization comes from the race for likes. We must stop comparing ourselves and above all, forget the algorithm when we work.
The Silent Life, From October 13 to 19, 2023 at the EST Galerie
76 rue Saint Maur 75011 Paris
