Robert Combas (France, 1957) is a contemporary artist and a leading figure in the Figuration Libre movement. His vibrant works blend elements of popular culture, comics, and music, characterized by dynamic compositions and expressive figures. Combas's art challenges traditional boundaries, reflecting a rebellious spirit and a celebration of everyday life.
Mixed mediaSerigraph is a printmaking process that uses silk screen techniques to create an image. The image is digitally separated into individual colors, each of which is assigned to a separate silk screen. These screens are then used to apply each color by hand, layer by layer, to replicate the original artwork, often based on an oil painting.
Robert Combas (France, 1957) is a contemporary artist and a leading figure in the Figuration Libre movement. His vibrant works blend elements of popular culture, comics, and music, characterized by dynamic compositions and expressive figures. Combas's art challenges traditional boundaries, reflecting a rebellious spirit and a celebration of everyday life.
I had always wanted to do something entirely new, I had always felt the need to be different from others, I truly consider myself to be a dandy.
- Robert Combas
Robert Combas (b. 1957 France) is a French artist and a leading figure in the Figuration Libre movement, which emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s as a reaction against the austerity of conceptual and minimalist art. Combas’s work is characterized by its vibrant, chaotic energy, bold colors, and a blend of high and low culture, often drawing on comic strips, graffiti, rock music, and everyday life. His paintings are densely populated with figures, patterns, and text, creating a dynamic, almost frenetic visual experience. Combas's style is playful yet deeply expressive, addressing themes such as violence, sexuality, and the human condition with both humor and intensity. As a pioneer of contemporary French art, Combas has significantly influenced the development of figurative painting in Europe. (Artist website)
Contemporary art refers to avant-garde or innovative art created in the recent past or present day. The exact starting point of contemporary art varies depending on the institution, often tied to the founding year of museums or galleries that showcase the style. Contemporary art is characterized by its focus on current ideas, diverse media, and the exploration of new concepts and techniques.