You panic. Your first thought is that the Chi inside your home is blocked. You need to remedy this potential calamity, and pronto. You know what you want and need. You crave simplicity. In this complex, often frightening world, you need to be able to close the door to your home and be engulfed in silence and stillness. You want those white walls and silk curtains to block the noise, the harsh sunlight, the commotion outside your window. Your home is your sanctuary. You’ve remodeled to infuse it with the ancient Chinese tradition of Feng Shui. By reading The Holistic Home by Laura Benko, Feng Shui expert, you know that Chi needs to flow freely and gracefully around your home, that you need to limit those tchotchkes you collected on trips to Europe, that you need to examine the symbolism that is inadvertently showing up in your home. You also need to slow the Chi down so it can linger and fill your rooms with its benevolent energy. You know you need to do this by adding artwork that leads you to calmly reflect and pause from your daily life.
Enter Agathe Bouton. Her work Townhouse III, an 8×8 monotype mounted onto wood panel, collage and acrylic paint, in its soothing, muted colors, subject matter of Philadelphia row homes, and unique textured quality, seems to easily fit the bill. It’s a tranquil and serene city scene, perfect to reflect upon you unfolding life as well as the importance of home. As Bouton states: “No matter where I reside, I am infused by the specificity of the architecture and culture around me…My work evokes reflections of the lives lived within these spaces.” Bouton is a French artist living and working in Philadelphia, weaving the theme of living in international cities throughout the world in her oeuvre of work. She earned her BFA in painting and printmaking and MFA in Arts and Textile Design from ESSAA Duperre in Paris, France. Since leaving Paris 15 years ago, she has lived and exhibited her work internationally and has presented exhibits throughout the world. Calamity averted.
.jpg)
