As a leading figure in the "Free Figuration" movement, Robert Combas' work transcends the boundaries of painting to extend into sculpture, drawing, performance, and more recently, music. Characterized by vibrant colors and bold black outlines defining the depicted figures, the "Combas style" is intended to be free and spontaneous: "I create my paintings in a single stroke," he says(1). Starting in the late 1970s, he asserted a personal form of painting, driven by a pleasure in the act of creation that he contrasted with the prevailing intellectualism in art at the time (conceptual art, minimalism, Support/Surface, etc.). From the outset, he willingly submitted to the constant flow of images from popular culture, which he saw as the origin of his creative process. His sources of inspiration were diverse and non-hierarchical, encompassing comics, advertising, ancient or religious mythologies, magazines, history, television, and current events. He enjoyed addressing a wide range of subjects, from everyday life images (Pointy Shoes from various popular brands, 1979) to war (Greek Soldier Warrior, 1984), love (The Three Lovers of Nature, 2002), and politics (Worn-out Saddam, 2003).
"I sometimes work abstractly with paint splatters, a kind of abstract expressionism. Figurative art is the fun side, grounded; initially, it was a derisive reaction against the intellectual paintings of the art world in the 1970s. I come from a working-class background; I lived in two different worlds. There are still messages in my paintings: at the beginning, it's about a certain energy, I wanted to paint what I wanted. In comics, you're constrained by the characters, whereas in this painting, I'm completely free, even in terms of format." - Robert Combas
