AGATHE BOUTON

Stardust – Poussière d’Etoiles 

Is a new exclusive series of digital prints created especially for AZART Gallery.
 This series of digital prints is inspired by Bouton’s original, circular, indigo, relief prints. It builds on this inspiration to illustrate the birth of a star, a new spark of life, and a glimpse of hope. 

Each print, Etincelle – Spark, is in a limited edition of 10 prints, signed and numbered at the back and printed onto Hahnemuhle photo rag metallic paper, 100% cotton.

 Bio

Agathe Bouton is a French artist living and working in Philadelphia whose boundary-pushing printmaking and paper works exhibit influence from living and working in international cities across the globe. Bouton earned her BFA in Painting and Printmaking and her MFA in Arts and Textile Design from the prestigious ESSAA Duperré in Paris, France.

Bouton has lived and exhibited her work internationally in France, UK, USA, Burma/Myanmar, Senegal and Turkey.

Bouton has received numerous awards in France and the United States for her accomplished printmaking. Bouton’s work is in the collections of French institutions as well as American public collections. She’s presented by the Stanek Gallery in Philadelphia and Martine Namy-Caulier in Paris, France.

Statement

Through a modern approach to printmaking, I make monotypes, prints, installations, artist books, paper clothing, and paintings that play with improvisation and superimposition in their creation.  My work draws on engraving and etching techniques, and uses colour that appears in different halftones, shades, and densities. 

I am inspired by the rich textiles of Burma (Myanmar), where I lived from 2006 to 2010. For these pieces my inspiration came from the shape of a pleated skirt, common in eastern Shan State, when it is laid flat or flared out in a full spin. I explore the beauty and meaning of these fabrics through some exquisite woodcut prints.

My pieces hint at women’s lives lived within these precious textiles as they are worn, washed, faded by the sun, lashed by the rain, torn, repaired and worn again.

My aim is never to mimic the fabric exactly, but to reflect the lifespan of a skirt - from the intricacies of the original sewing to the repairs, often crude, that add layers of colour and interest. 

I want to show that these deeply valued textiles bear witness to the lives of the women who grow, play, work, celebrate and die within them. We are challenged to imagine moments of these lives – the special and the mundane.

Combining monoprint and woodcut I print by hand onto handmade Burmese and Japanese paper, and add stitching by hand.