The French artist Robert Combas has become known as one of the protagonists of "Figuration Libre", the French form of new figuration in the 1980s.
Robert Combas was born at Lyon in 1957, he grew up in Sète, where he also began to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1974/75. Between 1975 and 1980 he completed his studies at the DNSAP in Montpellier. In those years the Punkrock movement had decisive influence on Robert Combas. In 1978 he even founded a band together with Hervé di Rosa and Richard di Rosa. In 1979 Robert Combas, Hervé di Rosa and Ketty Brindel publish the art magazine "Bato".
From those days on Robert Combas was able to establish himself as painter and graphic artist in the style of "Figuration Libre". Along with Rémi Blanchard, François Boisrond and Hervé di Rosa, Robert Combas was a founding father of the artist group of the same name.
Comics and graffiti inspired his works, Pop Art and Arabian art can be named as additional sources of influences. Strong and striking colors with black contour lines increase the effect of his images. As of the late 1980s an increasingly mystical tendency can be observed, Robert Combas' works are darker and gloomier. In the 1990s Combas expanded his field of artistic activity: He writes poetry and works photographs over with felt tip pen, assemblages are also part of his oeuvre. After the turn of the millennium music became a great source of inspiration for Robert Combas once again, and he made large paintings in cooperation with rock bands. "Ma peinture c'est du rock", my painting is rock music, said the artist about his work.
Robert Combas was honored with a comprehensive retrospective in 2012: The exhibition "Greatest Hits" at the Musée d'Art Contemporain in Lyon comprised more than 600 works by the artist. Robert Combas lives and works in Paris.