Artist’s Statement
My art is a reflection of my experiences and travels, shaped by my upbringing in France and the diverse cultures I encountered while living in Southeast Asia, West Africa, and the Middle East. Through abstraction, I seek to evoke both comfort and narrative.
I approach my monoprints much like a painter would a canvas—improvising with paint, collage, and hand-stitched fiber elements. I create monoprints, relief/engraving prints, print installations, and paintings that emphasize improvisation and layering.
Themes of identity, history, progress, and decay weave through my work, transforming these concepts into expressions of beauty. For example, in my “Burmese Days” series, my reflection was drawn to the women in remote parts of Burma and their deep connection to the textiles they create and wear, their dyeing processes, and the subtle alterations they make as their fabrics age.
In 2022, I began exploring larger works and installations, creating modular panels and narrow banners measuring 9 x 3 feet, while also developing more traditional formats for galleries and exhibitions.
Bridging various art forms, I draw inspiration from both relief print and monoprint techniques. In series as diverse as Burmese Days and Habitat & Urban Matter, I blend multiple elements, using paper in ways that lend themselves to installations and moving banners. My recent work, Les Bleus à l'Âme, delves into weaving by slicing monoprints into fine strips and interlacing them to form new compositions.
My use of color—expressed through varied halftones, shades, and densities—reflects the places I’ve lived. For example, my passion for deep blues and indigo was sparked by the textile traditions of Burmese tribes who have preserved this craft for generations. While Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal in West Africa, introduced me to an entirely different palette, one infused with the rich, earthen hues of laterite, which adorns the landscape in shades of terracotta and brown.
Agathe Bouton - 2025
Biography
Agathe Bouton, (b.Paris, France; lives Wynnewood, PA, USA) is a French printmaker and multimedia artist known for her contemporary approach to printmaking. She earned her BFA and MFA from ESAA Duperré in Paris. Over the past 20 years, Bouton has lived and exhibited in cities like Paris, London, Philadelphia, New York, Rangoon, Dakar, and Istanbul. Her solo exhibitions include venues such as the Biennale de l’Art Africain Contemporain in Dakar, Galerie Martine Namy-Caulier in Paris, Stanek Gallery in Philadelphia and Zürcher Gallery in New York.
Bouton has received numerous awards, in 2022 she received the Meyer Family Award for Contemporary Art and being a finalist in the 98th Annual International Competitions of The Print Center in Philadelphia in 2023. Recently she won the Louise K.Binswangr Prize for best Artist. Her work is part of collections in prestigious French institutions like the Bibliothèque Nationale and American collections such as the Free Library of Philadelphia and Swarthmore College Library.