Today we’d like to introduce you to Yevgenia & Carlos Davidoff & Carrillo.
Hi Yevgenia & Carlos, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
For the last ten years, we’ve been working as an artist duo here in Austin, Texas, we are the two halves of CCYD Studio. I’m Carlos Carrillo (CC), born in Wichita Falls, TX, and my partner, Yevgenia Davidoff (YD), was born in Moscow, Russia. Somehow the universe decided to put a Texan and a Muscovite in the same art school at the same time, and that’s where it all began.
The short version of how we met goes like this: one day I was wandering the halls at SVA and saw Yevgenia working in a studio class. I said to myself, “I just found my wife.” I tried to casually stroll in and get her number… but her professor, the one and only Jack Whitten took one look at me and kicked me out like he was protecting his star player. Eventually I did get her number, so it all worked out. Thanks, Jack.
After a year of dating, constant art talk, and way too many gallery openings, we naturally started helping each other with school projects. By 2001, I had narrowed my experiments down to sculpture and light-based installations. Yevgenia had traded the “safe” world of computer art for the unpredictable life of painting and sculpture. We basically moved into SVA’s Sculpture Department, and what began as swapping materials and solving technical problems slowly turned into a real creative partnership.
After graduation, instead of waiting for curators to magically appear, we created our own opportunities. In 2003, we curated our first show, Low-Tech Organics, in Long Island City. That early collaboration cemented our shared aesthetic: part industrial, part organic, part “what happens if we plug this in?”. Light became our ongoing connective thread.
Fast-forward a decade. We built a small art practice inside our Greenpoint loft, then decided to start a family. Like many New York couples, we thought we could raise kids in the city… and then reality set in. We moved to Astoria, and after our second son was born, we opted for clean air, more space, and the comfort of Carlos’s family. Austin gave us that — plus the “village” every parent secretly wishes for. We paused our art practice to raise our boys, and once they were old enough, we eased right back into making work together.
Since then, we’ve exhibited nationally and created a range of installations and sculptural works. Most recently, our work was featured in the 2024–25 Texas Biennial in Houston, and one of our sculptures is currently on view at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft through January 31, 2026. We’re also working on a large-scale installation for the UMLAUF Sculpture Garden and Museum in Austin for 2026. Continuing our ongoing love affair with nature, light, and the occasional hardware-store aisle.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Not exactly, collaboration is rarely a smooth road, especially between two artists who both come with strong opinions, strong instincts, and an inconvenient amount of passion. In the early days, our egos were basically third and fourth members of the relationship. We had creative disagreements, setbacks, and even a couple of breakups. Which, in looking back, were probably our way of rebooting the system.
But eventually we realized that what we were building together, personally and artistically, was too meaningful to walk away from. So we learned how to compromise, how to actually listen, and how to trust each other’s instincts even when they made zero sense at first. Somewhere along the way we became a family, which helped with certain logistics and instantly made everything ten times more complicated. Raising kids while making art together is basically a group project with no clear instructions.
We’ve learned a lot: patience, empathy, timing, and how to give each other space before saying something we’ll have to apologize for later. The road absolutely hasn’t been smooth, but honestly, the bumps are part of the story now. The journey, the funny, messy, beautifully chaotic parts has become just as important, if not more, than the destination.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
At CCYD Studio, we build sculptural installations that sit somewhere between nature, engineering, and the mysterious hardware aisle at Home Depot. We’re known for transforming everyday industrial or mass-produced materials; wiring, modular components, cast cement, light fixtures into works that feel strangely alive. Think engineered ecosystems with a poetic twist. Some pieces feel utopian, some a little dystopian, but everything connects back to our bond with the natural world.
Light is a big part of what we do. We use it to guide people through a space, shift mood, or reveal hidden structures in ways you can’t get from a regular overhead bulb. A lot of our installations are site-specific, so we’re always studying the quirks of a space, how light hits a wall, how people move through it, and whether there’s a plug anywhere remotely convenient.
We’re also guided by relational aesthetics, which is a fancy art-world way of saying we want the viewer to actually be in the work, not just look at it from a polite distance. For us, the experience matters just as much as the object. We think about how people move through a space, how they pause, what they pay attention to, and how their presence changes the atmosphere. Many of our pieces are built to slow people down, to make them breathe, notice small details, or tune into the subtle shifts of light and material. We love those moments when someone walks in expecting “art on a wall” and instead finds themselves quietly communing with a bundle of wires, light, or cast cement in a way they didn’t see coming.
What really sets us apart is our collaborative language. Carlos brings sculpture, engineering, AV systems, and an unapologetic love of industrial materials. I (Yevgenia) bring a painter’s sensitivity of color, intuition, botanical forms, domestic objects and an ability to soften anything he tries to over-engineer. Together, we create works that are futuristic yet handmade, mechanical on the surface but deeply human underneath.
We’re proud of many things, from rebuilding our practice after having two kids, to showing work in the 2024–25 Texas Biennial and currently having a sculpture on view at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. But the moments we’re proudest of are simple: when someone steps into one of our installations and feels transported, calmed, or reconnected to something bigger than themselves.
If they walk away thinking, “I don’t know what that was, but I feel different,” then we’ve done our job.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
We’d like to thank your readers for spending a moment with our story. Everything we make, whether it’s a sculpture, a light-based installation, or a strange hybrid object that made perfect sense in the studio is meant to give people a reason to pause. If someone slows down and feels even a small spark of wonder, that’s the win.
We’re also excited to share (again) that we’re developing a major installation for the UMLAUF Sculpture Garden and Museum in Austin, opening in 2026. It brings together all our favorite things: nature, light, engineered structure, and just enough technical magic to keep Carlos happily tinkering for months.
And because art-making is also how we keep our household running (and our kids in shoes that actually fit), here’s our shameless-but-proud plug: we create one-of-a-kind collectible design pieces — functional objects with personality that blur the line between sculpture and daily domestic life. A selection of it lives on our website shop: https://www.ccydstudio.com/yd-dp-artwares
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If you see us at a show, come say hello. Carlos will talk about material relationships and visual weight like he’s giving a TED Talk no one requested, and I (Yevgenia) will absolutely explain how colors behave on glass versus cement with the enthusiasm of a scientist who’s solved a mystery. It’s part of our charm, or so we’ve decided.
We’re grateful to be creating in Texas and even more grateful to be sharing our work with you.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ccydstudio.com
Image Credits
Dandelion Satellite photos are by Audrey Alberthal, all the other photos are by CCYD Studio
