'Dressed to Thrill' is the latest solo exhibition by Paris-based artist Antwan Horfee, presented by China Heights Gallery in Sydney. This marks Horfee’s first solo show with the gallery since 2014. The exhibition features a selection of Horfee’s recent works, blending dynamic abstraction with figurative elements. His signature style, which draws on his street art background, combines spontaneous, fast-paced techniques with a more classical approach to painting.

“I like the silhouette. I like to stick things on it, like magnets on a fridge. I love to adjust the context all around it, adding accessories, and I like to make it fit into a cerebral balance, a symbiosis. One day, you know how to dress up and empower yourself in front of that vast world. So it starts: On Monday, you like the discord between yellow and beige, and on Tuesday you nail it with that precise shape. Long cape or crop top. Bumpy hat or polka dot scarf. By Wednesday, you admit that your surroundings hated it, but that’s why you enjoyed it. And by Thursday, you’re being over-theatrical about it. You are this. You are convinced, and it works: the others like it. That becomes your singular card to play. By Friday, that fetishised silhouette is fully under control and prepares for Saturday’s spectacle. The lights are on and bright, your spirit shines. Projectors are dancing. It happens perfectly as planned, but then, while the music plays loudly, the shame emerges and invades all expectations. The back of your mind is foreseeing the near future: it’s the clear scent of Sunday’s crash. A dystopian emotional void that will tear your week’s work into bloody pieces. Facing failure that looked as complete as it could just a few days ago. The sense of osmosis is morphing. Was it bad taste? Was it unrealistic? Was it too early to be an accepted allure? Was it entirely me for good, or now that I reconsider, was it just a bit too crooked? Is my matrix bugged? Oh snap, what was I searching for? Some sort of contained formula based on how I should look for others, or for me only again…? True! But so many formulas to choose from, it’s hard to pick just one. Heavy-hearted, I strip naked and focus on the silhouette once again. I’m not necessarily born with it, but I have to guide and maintain a sense of it. I am an artist, and oh, it’s disgusting… and taboo. Why stand out? Maybe this time, I could camouflage as some other unknown character in the story. Everyone has an appearance, so should I keep digging into mine, or should I, effortlessly, relax and borrow someone else’s iconic colour assemblage? Again and again, Every day, it’s a body immersion.”