Robert Combas was born on May 25, 1957, in Lyon. He spent his childhood and adolescence in Sète. Since 1981, he has been living in Paris. He was 22 years old when he began producing his work through the journal BATO, an ephemeral publication, with only four issues released, followed by the rock group LES DÉMODÉS.
It was in Saint Etienne in 1980 that Robert Combas graduated from the School of Fine Arts, after attending the schools of Sète and Montpellier. A member of the local jury, Bernard Ceysson, noticed him and enabled him to participate in his first exhibition at the Saint Etienne Museum of Modern Art. The following year, he exhibited with Ben, who defined his work as ‘Free Figuration’.
In 1982, Combas began collaborating with art dealer Yvon Lambert, a partnership that lasted more than ten years. This is indeed the significance of the title of the Vence exhibition. In 1984, the first catalogue of the artist, COMBAS 1984, was published.
From then on, Combas multiplied exhibitions worldwide and in the most prestigious galleries. The artist defines his work by the quest for novelty, striving to create something new. The Vence museum exhibition proves this, if evidence was needed. His work is very rich, often violent, intricate, and highly colorful; the entire space of the canvas is occupied, leaving no empty space. It seems too small, too narrow to contain everything the artist wanted to express.
At first glance, it may seem heavy. To truly understand and grasp Combas, one must deconstruct the painting, analyze each element, not just look, but rather feel, sense, think. One must let oneself be taken by Robert Combas into his universe, his world, both real and surreal. He transcends reality and stimulates the most intimate fibers of our soul. Combas is a very prolific artist, he ‘destroys’ himself to create. Alcohol and drugs are his green fairy.
The works exhibited at Vence cover the period from 1978 to 1993. Robert Combas described himself as a dandy in an interview in 1982. A dandy in his originality and the novelty of his paintings, a dandy in the noble sense of the word. He reinvents writing and symbols.
One admires a painting, but with Combas, one must also read it. The exhibited works are very eclectic in their themes: there is war, denounced here in its violence, and there are tributes to friends, artists: Maïté and Matisse, Brassens, and the series of saints, including Saint Lambert, the patron saint of Vence.
Between history and mythology, Combas moves back and forth with ease; the Trojan War is there, one experiences it. The exhibition concludes as usual with the Chapelle des Pénitents Blancs, where other paintings evoke war and especially a magnificent tree, homage to Brassens and his songs.
To truly understand Robert Combas, one must know the key, and as in riddles, it is before our eyes; we just need to look.
Thierry Jan
