Agathe Bouton: Habitat and Urban Matter: Monotype Prints and Collage

First Friday: December 2, 5-9pm

Artist Reception: Saturday, December 10, 5-8pm.          Artist Talk at 6pm

Agathe Bouton

I have loved cities since my childhood : growing up in Paris; visiting my Grandparents’ Le Corbusier apartment; watching Jacques Tati’s films with their playful modernism. I continue to be inspired by the urbanism I see around me in Philadelphia.

Whether the building be a new block of offices or apartments, or an abandoned warehouse, an old administrative center, or a half-demolished home – I am drawn to the history and lives they evoke, as well as their intrinsic beauty - whether that beauty comes from design or degradation, or some combination of the two.

My latest artwork are interpretations of these buildings – sometimes in detail, sometimes with a broader view. These urban landscapes with their grand facades, their broken windows, their patchworks of broken windows, their color palette, the reflections sometimes of other buildings sometimes of the sky. These artworks are intended to evoke reflections on the lives lived within these spaces, and in finding beauty, making beauty, in the urbanism that surrounds us.

Color has always had an important place in my work, which has often focused on a modern approach to engraving and print art. Here I created monotypes and played with improvisation and superimposition in their creation, so although the work is monochrome (echoing traditional engraving and etching), the colour appears in different half-tones, shades and densities, in a way that can’t be achieved with traditional approaches.

Artist Bio

Agathe Bouton is a French artist, originally from Paris. She moved from Istanbul to Philadelphia 2 years ago, and is now based in Wynnewood PA.  She works mainly in various forms of engraving, but also in painting and collage.

She studied in one of the finest and most famous applied art schools of Paris, ESAA Duperre, and has shown her art in exhibitions across Europe, and in Australia, Japan, India and the USA. She has won a number of awards for her work.

Some of Agathe’s work is displayed at the Gallery Martine Namy-Caulier in Paris, and she also has work in the permanent collection of the National Library of Paris.

Since leaving Paris 12 years ago Agathe has lived in London, Rangoon (Burma), Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Dakar (Senegal), and Istanbul (Turkey), before now settling in the US. Her work is inspired and fed by all her experiences and the cultures she has discovered during her travels. 

Her work breaks the boundaries of the traditional medium of engraving and etching. Her modern approach to this ancient technique means her work tends to be more colourful and pictorial, and less graphic than traditional engraving.

Agathe is a full member of the 3rd Street Gallery in Philadelphia, and a Professional Artist Member at the Main Line Art Center in Haverford.