Antwan Horfee
“Intercept the idea of putting things together from the street to an interior space, during our period is to me, not a good idea at all. I’d rather face the reality of every minute everywhere in town. The youth is about going out of the intimity from the family, that limits the sphere of problems and accidents that can happen, my goal is simply to go deeply where it happens. I want to find them and call them theatrically art. Paintings, drawings, tattoos, signs or installations, I want the ruff lines to find a balance between the polished and the folk in a shitty situation.”
Interview for New Image Art, September 2014.
Antwan Horfee (1983), a pseudonym, is a Parisian artist and internationally acclaimed charismatic graffiti figure. His work is as much inspired by European abstract artists, international movements such as the Gutai and CoBrA groups, as the world of tattooing and vintage cartoons. These points of reference serve as a starting point for Horfee’s graphical work that tends towards abstraction across a range of mediums: paintings on canvas or paper, sculpture and graffiti.
At a joint intervention in the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Horfee and Ken Sortais explain the process: “The abstraction is similar to the shortcuts that are used in the urgency of drawing, in the panic of not being able to finish. Confined by time constraints and due to the illegal nature of our art, our paintings have evolved into “smears” (reference to the “smear” in animation: the blurred image in a motion picture taken with a long aperture). The narration of the image becomes abstract, chaotic, loses its original meaning and ceases being mainstream. ”
“Intercept the idea of putting things together from the street to an interior space, during our period is to me, not a good idea at all. I’d rather face the reality of every minute everywhere in town. The youth is about going out of the intimity from the family, that limits the sphere of problems and accidents that can happen, my goal is simply to go deeply where it happens. I want to find them and call them theatrically art. Paintings, drawings, tattoos, signs or installations, I want the ruff lines to find a balance between the polished and the folk in a shitty situation.”
Interview for New Image Art, September 2014.
Antwan Horfee (1983), un pseudo, est un artiste parisien reconnu internationalement comme une figure charismatique du graffiti. Son œuvre est autant inspirée par les artistes d’abstraction européens, que par des mouvements comme les groupes Gutai et CoBrA ainsi que par le monde du tatouage et celui des dessins animés vintage. Ceux-ci servent souvent de point de départ à un travail graphique qui tend à l’abstraction à l’aide de différents types de médiums: peinture sur toile ou papier, sculpture ou graffiti.
Lors d’une intervention commune au Palais de Tokyo à Paris, Horfee et Ken Sortais expliquent leur démarche: “L’abstraction est similaire aux raccourcis que l’on utilise dans l’urgence du dessin, dans la panique de ne pas pouvoir finir, de ne pas pouvoir peaufiner. Les contraintes de temps et d’illégalité poussent notre peinture vers un “smear” (référence au “smear” en animation: l’image floue dans un mouvement, similaire à une photo prise avec une trop longue ouverture) de rue. La narration de l’image devient abstraite, chaotique, perd son sens premier et cesse d’être mainstream.”
“Intercept the idea of putting things together from the street to an interior space, during our period is to me, not a good idea at all. I’d rather face the reality of every minute everywhere in town. The youth is about going out of the intimity from the family, that limits the sphere of problems and accidents that can happen, my goal is simply to go deeply where it happens. I want to find them and call them theatrically art. Paintings, drawings, tattoos, signs or installations, I want the ruff lines to find a balance between the polished and the folk in a shitty situation.”
Interview for New Image Art, September 2014.
Antwan Horfee (1983) is het pseudoniem van een Parijse artiest en internationaal befaamde, charismatische graffitispuiter. Zijn werk is beïnvloed door Europese, abstracte kunstenaars en internationale stromingen zoals Gutai en de CoBrA groep, maar evengoed door de wereld van tatoeages en vintage cartoons. Die invloeden dienden als startpunt voor Horfees grafisch werk, dat neigt naar abstractie en een reeks aan media als drager gebruikt: schilderijen op canvas of papier, sculpturen en graffiti.
Horfee en Ken Sortais leggen het proces uit in een gezamenlijke interventie in het Palais de Tokyo in Parijs: “De abstractie is gelijkaardig aan de shortcuts die worden gebruikt in de gejaagdheid van een tekening, in de paniek van het niet kunnen voltooien. Beperkt door tijdslimieten en door het illegale karakter van onze kunst zijn onze schilderijen geëvolueerd naar “vegen” (een referentie aan de “veeg” in animatie: de wazige beelden in een animatiefilm door de lange sluitertijd van de camera). Het beeld wordt abstract, chaotisch, verliest zijn eigenlijke betekenis en is niet langer mainstream.”
