ART
Robert Combas |
Written 30 January |
Sunday 15 February, 11:00Maison Européenne de la Photographie, 75004 [map]
A large part of
Robert Combas’ work is to transform (through painting and sketching) pre-existing images of other artist’s work. He is widely recognized as a progenitor of the
figuration libre (free-style) movement that began in Paris around 1980 as a reaction to the art establishment in general and minimalism and conceptual art in particular.
In 1997-9, the artist was invited to produce an exhibition in memory of the great war of Peronne. For this, he painted on archive photos of the 1914-1918 conflict. At the end of 2008, Combas reached a new milestone with a new series of photographic work, under the name Le frimeur flamboyant. The title pays homage to the
Flamin’ Groovies, a rock group founded in 1965 and headed by Cyril Jordan of whom Combas is a big fan. Combas in his own way reinterprets the work of emblematic photographs. Through a mutation process, inherited as much from Lascaux as from Leonardo de Vinci, he creates new compositions. Combas uses acrylic felts, photographs his work and begins adding another layer by working on the photograph, playing with the image of the photo and what is there already, with new additions. His work is an artistic collage of popular imagery, mythology, children’s story books and school textbooks, to name but a few influences, that result in a provocative body of work which makes the viewer reflect on the art establishment and society at large.
| What: | Robert Combas |
| When: | Sunday 15 February, 11:00 |
| Where: | Maison Européenne de la Photographie, 5/7 rue de Fourcy 75004 [map] |
| Transport: | Saint Paul / Pont Marie |
| Cost: | 3-6EUR |
| Phone: | 01 44 78 75 00 |
| Email: | skulczewski@mep-fr.org |
| Web: | www.mep-fr.org |
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