Agnès Bourély French, b. 1963

Agnès Bourély is a French artist living and working in Geneva, after 8 years in Houston, Texas (USA) and numerous expatriations. Her creations, colorful symphonies of colored pencils, gouache, and ink, tell of the poetics of travels and of life far from home. Having lived abroad and moving up to 7 different countries during her life, Bourély’s art reflects the constant adjustments and re-adjustments that come with such a nomadic lifestyle. This transience has imbued her work with a sense of selective exile and reinvention, as she continuously adapts to new surroundings and challenges. Her identity and artistic expression are thus shaped by a delicate balance of rootedness and freedom. It’s in the plurality of our exiles that we can find ourselves; Bourely’s art is a perpetual journey.​ 

Her work is deeply intertwined with her rich familial background in music and her own experience as a guitarist. Her artistic practice is informed by a lifelong immersion in the sounds of formal music late 19th-20th century, most of which being French music, which have profoundly shaped her ability to translate the auditory into the visual. Having grown up in a musical environment – her sister being a professional pianist – and having passed on the same passion to her 5 children, she has always been surrounded by music. Bourély’s artistic journey has been marked by the fluidity of sound and movement, which she deftly conveys through her visual art.

Bourély’s work can be described as a form of "visual sound," where each line and brushstroke echoes the dynamics of musical compositions. Her artistic process mirrors the movements of a musician, with shifts and flows that rise from the two-dimensional plane as if they were notes in a symphony. She approaches her work with the precision and spontaneity of a contortionist, transforming familiar forms of nature into bold, expressive visual statements that challenge and redefine the viewer's experience. Her work is characterised by a sense of both clarity and complexity, as she navigates between obeying and suspending the "rules" of artistic creation, much like a musician interpreting a score already written. 

Agnès Bourély studied at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Angers, where she obtained her National Diploma in Fine Arts in 1986. In 1988, she was awarded the silver medal by the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in Denver, Colorado.

Her solo exhibitions have been held in notable venues such as the French Consulate in Anzoátegui, Venezuela; the Colette Dubois Gallery on Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris (2014, 2015); the Ministry of Finance in Bercy, Paris; the Gibert Joseph Library in Paris; Esprit d’Atelier Gallery in Versailles; Le Vis-à-Vis Gallery in Paris (2013); and Zoya Tommy Gallery in the USA (2017).

Since 2017, Agnès Bourély has been represented in the United States by the international Barbara Davis Gallery (Houston, USA). Her work is part of the Microsoft collection as well as numerous private collections in the United States (Texas, New York, Chicago), Switzerland, France, and Singapore.