After studying at the Beaux-Arts in Rennes, France, Inès de Chefdebien spent several years working alongside designer and artist Jean-Charles de Castelbajac,followed by a role within the creative team of the prestigious Parisian department store Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche.In 2014, she established herself as an independent artist.
Her exquisitely detailed drawings balance elegance and technical mastery,reminiscent of delicate embroidery and the fine lines of antique engravings,
while evoking the contemplative and dreamlike world of Japanese prints.Her series Nuages (Clouds) and Eaux (Waters), whether monochromatic or multicolored, are all created using ballpoint pens—an
homage to this ubiquitous tool,revealing the beauty of its colors and the unique effects achieved by the ball gliding or pressing against the paper.
"Through my work, I seek to offer serenity, a breath of fresh air, a soothing certainty. These expanses of clouds and waters, without any reference to place or time, resonate with a sense of universality and seem to echo an intuitive, primal, and sacred presence. In our unstable and unsettling world, they reconnect us to the origins of all nature, including our own. From a distance, my drawings, both realistic and dynamic, reveal an astonishing complexity. Up close, they appear blurred or imprecise, like chaotic pixels that, when viewed from afar, form a striking visual harmony.
By using ballpoint pens—simple, ordinary, inexpensive, or even free—found across all walks of life and used by people of all ages, from childhood to old age, far removed from the traditional realm of fine arts, I align my subjects with my tools in a quest for universality. My work requires immense time, patience, and meticulousness. These moments of creation are as soothing and gentle as they are intricate. This way of drawing has followed me since childhood..
For the Sources series, which is more abstract, I drew inspiration from the vivid and deep colors of the Fosse Dionne, a wondrous spring in the town of Tonnerre.
My approach remains unchanged: lines drawn with ballpoint pens.
Echoing pointillism, these aquatic depths emerge through the juxtaposition of pure tones that blend into one another, creating a sense of transparency."
