Antoine Dufilho: biography of a movement sculptor
A dual origin: art and the automobile
For Antoine Dufilho, art and a passion for cars came together at an early age. He grew up with his great-uncle Jacques, an actor, painter and sculptor. Jacques also had a private collection of Bugatti cars, such as his beautiful Type 37. Antoine observed, drew and learned.
This double filiation, artistic and mechanical, became the matrix of his universe. A language he would later explore in the form of volumes, strata and reflections. In his own words: “It is by being aware of his roots that a man can grow.”
Medicine, architecture, sculpture: a career path built up from the ground up
Before becoming a sculptor, Antoine studied medicine. Three years spent studying human biomechanics. Scientific rigor, but limited creativity. He then turned to architecture.
A graduate of the Lille School of Architecture, he built his studio from shipping containers. In 2012, he devoted himself fully to sculpture. “I wanted to experiment with construction, deconstruction… but above all to release the energy of a frozen volume,” he explains.
A work shaped by experimentation
Antoine is self-taught. He forges, welds and cuts. The sculptor works with industrial materials: aluminum, stainless steel, corten steel. The artist plays with light and reflections to create an illusion of movement. His sculptures alternate between full and empty. They evolve with the spectator’s footsteps.
His aim: to freeze movement while suggesting it. Each work is designed to be perceived in rotation, in variation, in vibration. Emptiness becomes a narrative element. The observer becomes an actor.
The invention of the “Streamline” style
In 2016, he formalized a personal technique called Streamline. This approach is based on a longitudinal cutting of the volume, inspired by aerodynamic lines. Seen from the front, the sculpture seems to disappear. Viewed at an angle, it reappears.
“I created this technique which I named Streamline to represent speed and symbolize the research carried out in the wind tunnel.”
This principle places it in the tradition of kinetic sculpture, in a contemporary vein that draws on both art and industrial design.
The car as muse and material
Antoine Dufilho doesn’t just represent cars: he deconstructs, reinvents and energizes them. For him, mechanics become a sculptural pretext. A vocabulary of pure forms, where aerodynamics, curves and tensions become sculptural material.
It all began in 2011 with a stylized interpretation of the Bugatti Type 35, treated almost as a cartoon in volume, with its deliberately exaggerated wheels. In 2012, he created his first Bugatti Atlantic, the very foundation of his artistic grammar: it introduces cutting in successive layers, alternating emptiness and matter.
From then on, each vehicle becomes a field of formal research for him. He doesn’t copy the original lines, but extracts the DNA, the lines of force. Whether he’s working on the Porsche 911, the DS, or even hybrid objects from motor racing, Antoine brings out movement where everything else seems frozen.
In Gunmetal Symphony, inspired by the Porsche 911, he uses a series of stainless steel tubes placed at regular intervals to give an impression of contained speed and structural vibration. The monochrome work captures light like a resonance chamber.
Formula One is a tribute to the Formula 1 of the 90s. Spare, linear, almost surgical, it highlights the fragile balance between power and lightness. Presented at the French Grand Prix, it made a lasting impression with its kinetic minimalism.
With Chameleon, Antoine explores perception. The sculpture changes color according to the angle of view, from blue to yellow, creating a shifting optical effect. This chromatic play reinforces the sensation of passage, of visual acceleration.
Velocity, meanwhile, draws on the interior architecture of the Bugatti Veyron to reveal a light-filled central tunnel. The shape seems to be sucked inwards. The void becomes the axis of propulsion.
In 2024, Antoine Dufilho designed Agility, a monumental new interpretation of the Bugatti Type 35. Made of bead-blasted stainless steel, the sculpture articulates a series of organic blades whose fluid curves reinterpret the aerodynamics of the historic model. The work seems to emerge from a frozen moment of racing. The metal reflects the light to reinforce the illusion of movement and suspended momentum.
Each piece evokes a mechanical memory, an aerodynamic breath, a silent pulsation. As he explains:
“Our brains tend to imagine the logical sequence of events. Asymmetry creates an illusion of movement.”
In short, Antoine doesn’t sculpt cars: he sculpts what they tell, the flow they provoke and the visual emotion they generate when they are no more than lines, strata and suspended tensions.
Beyond the car
Antoine Dufilho also explores abstraction. He creates architectural sculptures such as the Chrysler Building and the Statue of Liberty. In 2024, he presented La Dolce Vita, a work inspired by the Riva Aquarama, combining corten steel and mirrored stainless steel.
From 2025 onwards, he wants to create forms detached from any figurative reference. “I want to take lightness a step further, to the point where matter disappears.”
Worldwide recognition
Represented in over 40 galleries, Antoine exhibits in Paris, Geneva, London, Miami, Dubai, Taiwan… His Bugatti Atlantic is on show at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles.
His collectors include Jean Todt, Peter Mullin and major European galleries. He shares his work behind the scenes on Instagram, and his latest news can be found here : Antoine Dufilho news.
Chronological milestones
- 2011: First stylized Bugatti Type 35 sculpture
- 2012: First Atlantic in openwork strata
- 2016: Invention of the “Streamline” style
- 2020 : Red Racing Flower at La Baule
- 2022: Red Stream at the Paris Motor Show
- 2023: Chameleon on display at Rétromobile
- 2024: La Dolce Vita opens in Le Touquet
- 2025: Series of abstract sculptures + new exhibitions
Much more than a sculptor
Antoine Dufilho is no mere car sculptor. He is an architect of emptiness, a poet of movement, a complete artist who gives life to the invisible. He reconciles art, technology and speed in a single work. His kinetic approach, his use of metal and his ability to sublimate light make him one of today’s most acclaimed contemporary sculptors.