{"id":37,"date":"2013-06-24T16:52:52","date_gmt":"2013-06-24T15:52:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.combas.com\/en\/?page_id=37"},"modified":"2016-02-15T16:57:43","modified_gmt":"2016-02-15T15:57:43","slug":"long-biography","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.combas.com\/en\/robert-combas\/long-biography\/","title":{"rendered":"Long biography"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column]<div class=\"smile-icon-timeline-wrap csstime   tl-animation-shadow\"  data-time_sep_bg_color=\"#c6b709\"   style=\"\"><div class=\"timeline-line \" style=\"border-right-color:#e0dc00;\"><span><\/span><\/div><div class=\"timeline-wrapper\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-seperator-6057\" class=\"timeline-separator-text \" data-sep-col=\"\" data-sep-bg-col=\"\"><span class=\"sep-text ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-seperator-6057 .sep-text'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"border-width:1px;border-radius:5px;\">1957<br \/>\nBirth of Robert Combas in Lyon on 25 May<\/span><\/div><div class=\"timeline-wrapper \"><\/div><div class=\"timeline-feature-item feat-item feat-top \"><div class=\"feat-dot feat-top\"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow feat-top\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"timeline-header\" id=\"timeline-featured-3811\"  style=\"\"><h3\n\t\t\t class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"   data-ultimate-target='#timeline-featured-3811 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1961<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive custom-lht\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-featured-3811 .custom-lht'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\"><strong>The Combas family moves to S\u00e8te.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[vc_single_image image=&#8221;27&#8243; img_size=&#8221;medium&#8221; add_caption=&#8221;yes&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; onclick=&#8221;link_image&#8221;]<br \/>\nThe art of Robert Combas is like a huge melting pot in which everything is mixed up, without hierarchy or discrimination, or a prism that both deforms and reveals his perception of the world, his experience and the universe of his imagination. All the things that were part of his childhood and teenage years in S\u00e8te are jumbled together \u2013 the local accent and patois, colours, brass bands, carnival costumes and processions, black humour and mockery, his parents, the Communist Party, music, girls, friends: it\u2019s all there, this mash-up is digested in his art.<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-wrapper \"><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-8133\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-8133 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1966<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-8133 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">Young Robert had been drawing battles since he was two. His parents, Raymonde and Mario, have never hung his pictures on the wall, but the astronomical quantity of his output makes them realise that he has a gift for caricature and they decide to encourage him. They can see their son as being destined for an artistic career and enrol him at the local art school.<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-2039\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-2039 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1974<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-2039 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">Does his foundation year at the local art school in S\u00e8te, preparing for the entrance exams for the regional art school in Montpellier.<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-1332\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-1332 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1975<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-1332 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">Combas enters the \u00c9cole R\u00e9gionale des Beaux-Arts in Montpellier. The course he studies for the next two years is highly technical.<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-feature-item feat-item  \"><div class=\"feat-dot \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow \"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"timeline-header\" id=\"timeline-featured-9675\"  style=\"\"><h3\n\t\t\t class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"   data-ultimate-target='#timeline-featured-9675 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1977<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive custom-lht\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-featured-9675 .custom-lht'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\"><br \/>\n[vc_single_image image=&#8221;104&#8243; img_size=&#8221;medium&#8221; add_caption=&#8221;yes&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; onclick=&#8221;link_image&#8221;]<br \/>\nRobert Combas, Ketty Brindel, Herv\u00e9 and Buddy Di Rosa form a close band of friends united by their shared interest in rock and punk, comics and humour. Ketty and Robert start going out together. At the beginning of his third year, Combas chooses to major in print-making and painting. His many prints already show a distinctive style. Through one of them, <i>Merde<\/i>, he discovers the artist Ben Vautier. Print-making is very important to him but he finds the technique burdensome. However, it is by synthesising his different styles that he formulates the beginnings of what will later be called Figuration Libre. In addition to this \u201cacademic\u201d work, he also does his own things on paper: battles, rock groups, the adventures of Fernand Zop and Mickey Combas, Tuer, and Ketty. Robert becomes more relaxed about technique. He realises that he has already produced huge amounts of drawings, and is already an artist. His new freedom stems from a number of facts that have made a deep impression on him: Bernard Palissy who burned his furniture and floorboards when he ran out of firewood for his kiln; Ladislas Kijno letting children walk on his works in an edition of Suzanne Gabrielo children\u2019s show that he saw on TV when he was 11; and Jonathan Richman telling an interviewer that it would be good to start playing with untuned guitars. Seeking to do something new, he takes his own past as his starting point and the source of his classic themes, such as TV images, cartoons, and the battles he has been drawing since he was a young child.Having thrown off his inhibitions, he starts making a landscape on a huge piece of Kraft paper (now lost). The first canvas he paints is altered several times: it is broken up into four parts, and then into three, then Robert burns one of them and sticks bits of wool on another. These prefigure the drips he starts making in 1989. The artist has never seen this piece again.<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-wrapper \"><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-3438\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-3438 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1978<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-3438 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">Painting supplies are expensive and the young artist\u2019s background is modest, but so what! Combas recycles and paints on whatever comes to hand: cardboard boxes, tables, doors and sheets. He also re-uses works abandoned by students as the background for this first Mickey paintings. Throughout his career he continues to work on drawings by children or students and on the pages of magazines. These pre-existing forms, this reserve of materials, inspire him to create something new. He uses them exactly the way musicians sample. Robert Combas, Ketty Brindel and Herv\u00e9 Di Rosa create <i>Bato<\/i> magazine, \u201can assemblagist, collective work of art hand-made in an edition of 100.\u201d This collective spirit also sees Combas form the group <i>Les D\u00e9mod\u00e9s<\/i> with Ketty and Buddy Di Rosa. Their songs are like Dadaist nonsense rhymes wrapped up in brutal, simple music. They play at the Th\u00e9\u00e2tre de la Mer in S\u00e8te, in Montpellier, Avignon, and even in Paris at the Golf-Drouot and the Gibus.<br \/>\n[vc_media_grid grid_id=&#8221;vc_gid:1451659606044-5471912c-6392-6&#8243; include=&#8221;105,106,107&#8243;]<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-7168\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-7168 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1979<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-7168 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">It is this music that gets journalists talking about Combas. In the daily newspaper <i>Lib\u00e9ration<\/i>, Jean-Pierre Thibaudat publishes the first two articles in the national press to mention his name. Both are about <i>Les D\u00e9mod\u00e9s<\/i> (\u201cFiction-rock en Avignon,\u201d 23 July 1979; \u201cArt caustique et vieilles dentelles. Les D\u00e9mod\u00e9s,\u201d 1 August 1979). In September Ketty is given a part in Jean-Henri Meunier\u2019s film <i>La bande du Rex<\/i>. Robert accompanies her to Paris for the shoot and discovers the Marais and above all the Barb\u00e8s quarter, where he is struck by the cheap showiness of the objects and shop fronts, by the colours and mixtures, all of which chime with his Mediterranean background and make him feel at home. The hundred-odd drawings that he makes in his sketchbook will serve as a repertoire of motifs for his large-scale compositions. This is the beginning of what he calls his Arab Pop Art, a \u201cPop Art for developing countries\u201d which could just as well have been called African Pop Art or Chinese Pop Art.<br \/>\n[vc_media_grid grid_id=&#8221;vc_gid:1451659707568-e1873adc-415e-3&#8243; include=&#8221;109,110,111&#8243;]<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-7418\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-7418 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1980<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-7418 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">He has his first solo show at Galerie Errata in Montpellier in May, followed in June by another in the rock bar run by his friends Pascal Saumade and Jacques Rue: Lieux Dix, Galerie MedaMothi in Montpellier. Combas obtains his diploma at the \u00c9cole des Beaux-Arts in Saint-\u00c9tienne, the city responsible for awarding diplomas that year. Contacted by a member of the jury, Bernard Ceysson comes to see his work. In August, having been declared ineligible for military service, Combas settles in Paris with Herv\u00e9 Di Rosa, Ketty Brindel and Louis Jammes in the apartment rented by Jammes at 120 Rue de Charonne. They meet Fran\u00e7ois Boisrond who, like Herv\u00e9, is studying at the \u00c9cole Nationale Sup\u00e9rieure des Arts D\u00e9coratifs in Paris. A friend of Herv\u00e9 Di Rosa\u2019s who is working at Promostyl for Arlette Lacour shows her a copy of <i>Bato<\/i>. Lacour buys several of the Arab Pop paintings Combas made when at the Beaux-Arts. Combas and Di Rosa tout their humorous drawings to <i>Lib\u00e9ration<\/i>, which publishes them in its weekly supplement <i>Sandwich<\/i>. Others are published in <i>Marie-Claire<\/i> magazine. Bernard Ceysson invites Robert to show in <i>Apr\u00e8s le Classicisme<\/i>, the exhibition being held at the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Art et d\u2019Industrie de Saint-\u00c9tienne in late November. At the opening Robert meets Bruno Bischofberger, who will regularly buy his works up to 1982, and Daniel Templon, who buys one that very evening.<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-5655\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-5655 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1981<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-5655 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">Robert Combas starts working with the Parisian gallerist Chantal Crousel. In February he has his first show abroad, <i>Objekte und bilder<\/i> at Galerie Eva Keppel (D\u00fcsseldorf).\u00a0Chantal Crousel introduces Combas to the Swart gallery in Amsterdam, which puts on a show in March. Robert Combas and Herv\u00e9 Di Rosa meet art critic Bernard Lamarche-Vadel through Fran\u00e7ois Boisrond\u2019s father. He offers them an exhibition in June in his loft in Rue Fondary (Paris), which he is about to leave. They also meet R\u00e9mi Blanchard and Catherine Viollet, with whom they will form the nucleus of the show, <i>Finir en beaut\u00e9<\/i>. Ironically enough, Lamarche-Vadel has already seen Combas\u2019 battle paintings at the Beaux-Arts, when he told him that he was too late because the Transavanguardia had already made similar pieces. On 24 March the newspaper <i>Lib\u00e9ration<\/i> publishes the first French article about Combas the artist, \u201cTrop pauvre pour se payer une toile\u201d, by Patrice Bollon.On 29 September <i>Lib\u00e9ration<\/i> publishes \u201cPas d\u2019orchid\u00e9es pour Combas et Di Rosa\u201d in relation to the exhibition organised by Ben Vautier,<i> 2 S\u00e9tois \u00e0 Nice<\/i>. In this article Ben cites Combas and Di Rosa as the French representatives of an international tendency which he calls Figuration Libre. In October Herv\u00e9 Perdriolle presents <i>To end in a believe of glory<\/i> [<i>sic<\/i>] at the Espace des Blancs Manteaux (Paris) and exhibits Combas, Boisrond, Di Rosa, Blanchard and Viollet. November: Combas takes part in the Ateliers 81\/82 exhibition at the ARC-Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. The <i>D\u00e9mod\u00e9s<\/i> play at the opening. On 11 December Otto Hahn, publishes \u201cAllons enfants de Picasso\u201d in the weekly magazine <i>L\u2019Express <\/i>and cites Combas as the leading figure in the Figuration Libre movement. At the end of the year Robert Combas and his friend Marc Durand rent a small apartment on the seventh floor (with no lift) at 17 Boulevard Saint Marcel. Ketty joins them. Robert has no studio and so, as usual, paints at home\u00a0\u2013 in this case, in the cramped kitchen.<br \/>\n[vc_media_grid grid_id=&#8221;vc_gid:1451659707750-e0c2881f-382b-4&#8243; include=&#8221;112,113&#8243;]<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-7018\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-7018 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1982<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-7018 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">Combas is shown for the first time in the US as part of <i>Statement One<\/i>, a selection of French artists at Holly Solomon Gallery, New York. March: first solo exhibition in Paris with Yvon Lambert, the beginning of an intense and stimulating collaboration. October sees the first exhibition explicitly by the Figuration Libre artists: <i>Figuration Libre: R\u00e9mi Blanchard, Fran\u00e7ois Boisrond, Robert Combas, Herv\u00e9 Di Rosa<\/i>, held at the Swart Gallery in Amsterdam.<br \/>\n[vc_single_image image=&#8221;114&#8243; img_size=&#8221;medium&#8221; add_caption=&#8221;yes&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; onclick=&#8221;link_image&#8221;]<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-4488\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-4488 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1983<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-4488 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\"><i>Blanchard, Boisrond, Combas, Di Rosa<\/i> at the Groninger Museum (Netherlands). Les D\u00e9mod\u00e9s play at the opening. First solo show in New York with Leo Castelli. Robert exhibits at the Il Capricorno gallery, Venice, in May. Sabine and Nini Camuffo are fervent supporters who began working with him in 1982, after discovering his art at Ben\u2019s <i>2 S\u00e9tois \u00e0 Nice<\/i> exhibition.Also in May, the Galerie Le Chanjour shows Combas\u2019 work in May in Nice. Their collaboration will continues until 1989. At the end of the year Ketty and Robert move to 17 Quai Louis Bl\u00e9riot, opposite the statue of <i>Liberty Enlightening the World<\/i>. Combas is now enjoying greater financial stability: his paintings are selling well. Conscious of his luck in being able to work freely, he devotes himself to his art. 1983 is a turning point: his painting is developing, his imagination expanding vigorously and his canvases are becoming fuller, more sophisticated and complex. Yvon Lambert advises him to move to a bigger space.<br \/>\n[vc_single_image image=&#8221;117&#8243; img_size=&#8221;medium&#8221; add_caption=&#8221;yes&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; onclick=&#8221;link_image&#8221;]<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-3881\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-3881 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1984<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-3881 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">Combas and Ketty rent a big house in the Marais at 30 Rue du Parc Royal. The Combas style is becoming increasingly confident. The works are spectacularly dense and the subjects increasingly complex. Combas\u2019 visual hallmarks are now present in his works: black outlines around the colour. The ARCA art centre in Marseille holds the first large-scale exhibition of Combas\u2019 work and publishes his first monograph catalogue, <i>Combas 84<\/i>. In December the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris organises the exhibition <i>5\/5\u00a0: Figuration Libre France\/USA<\/i>, juxtaposing work by young painters from France (Blanchard, Boisrond, Combas, Di Rosa, Jammes) and America (Basquiat, Crash, Haring and Scharf). Coincidence or not, a few months later Haring starts painting figures that are strangely similar to the ones in Combas\u2019 paintings.<br \/>\n[vc_media_grid element_width=&#8221;6&#8243; grid_id=&#8221;vc_gid:1455551606275-07996d45-cd0d-2&#8243; include=&#8221;467,120&#8243;]<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-4129\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-4129 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1985<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-4129 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">Still very young, he has a retrospective at the Mus\u00e9e de l\u2019Abbaye Sainte-Croix at Les Sables d\u2019Olonne, which tours to the Gemeente Museum in Helmond, the Netherlands, and the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Art et d\u2019Industrie in Saint-\u00c9tienne in early 1986. For the FIAC at the Grand Palais in Paris, Combas appropriates works at the Louvre. His creations are presented in the booth of Galerie Yvon Lambert. The gallery\u2019s suggestions are helping Combas diversify and encouraging him to take on the great themes of art history.<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-4767\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-4767 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1986<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-4767 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">In March he has a second solo show in New York at Leo Castelli. Combas takes part in the exhibition <i>Luxe, calme et volupt\u00e9<\/i> at the Vancouver Art Gallery in Canada, where his works are seen in relation to pieces by major names such as G\u00e9rard Garouste, Daniel Buren, and Martial Raysse. Robert Combas and Ketty move, renting from Sophie Calle a spacious, light apartment in an old factory building on Boulevard Cam\u00e9linat in Malakoff, on the southern edge of Paris. The artist starts making works on clothes.[vc_single_image image=&#8221;469&#8243; img_size=&#8221;medium&#8221; add_caption=&#8221;yes&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; onclick=&#8221;link_image&#8221;]<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-9053\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-9053 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1987<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-9053 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">Robert and Ketty split up. Combas\u2019 way of working is, as ever, urgent and chaotic. Realising how much material he is wasting, he decides to recycle and starts using old brushes and paint tubes to make sculptures. These are his first small crucifixes and painted brushes. In March the CAPC in Bordeaux mounts a personal exhibition which will tour to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. He features in <i>L\u2019\u00e9poque, la mode, la morale, la passion<\/i>, opening in March at the Mus\u00e9e National d\u2019Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. In June he meets Genevi\u00e8ve Boteilla at a party given by a collector and client of Yvon Lambert. She will become his companion and muse. Given that Combas\u2019 works are like the pages of a private diary, this change is manifest in his work. The theme of love is increasingly prominent in his paintings as is Genevi\u00e8ve herself. They live together in a house in Antony, waiting for Combas to be attributed a municipal studio in Paris.<br \/>\n[vc_media_grid grid_id=&#8221;vc_gid:1451659707954-c404f599-6d95-9&#8243; include=&#8221;121,123,124&#8243;]<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-feature-item feat-item  \"><div class=\"feat-dot \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow \"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"timeline-header\" id=\"timeline-featured-2611\"  style=\"\"><h3\n\t\t\t class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"   data-ultimate-target='#timeline-featured-2611 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1988<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive custom-lht\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-featured-2611 .custom-lht'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">Jointly with Yvon Lambert, Combas also starts working with Marianne and Pierre Nahon (Galerie Beaubourg, Paris). The relationship continues to 1992. The galleries twice put on simultaneous exhibitions on related themes.In September there are two simultaneous exhibitions on one of his favourite themes, war: <i>La guerre de Troie<\/i> at Galerie Yvon Lambert and <i>Les batailles<\/i> at Galerie Beaubourg. The two Parisian galleries also initiate a monograph on the artist. <i>L\u2019amour \u00e0 2<\/i> at Galerie Pierre Huber in Geneva exhibits works showing the private life of Genevi\u00e8ve and Robert. In December Combas and Genevi\u00e8ve move to a two-floor apartment in Rue Doudeauville, Barb\u00e8s.<br \/>\n[vc_single_image image=&#8221;126&#8243; img_size=&#8221;medium&#8221; add_caption=&#8221;yes&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; onclick=&#8221;link_image&#8221;]<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-wrapper \"><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-6633\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-6633 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1989<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-6633 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">The City of Paris give Combas his first real studio in Rue Quincampoix. He will continue to work there until 2002. The Fondation Cartier commissions him to do all the visuals for the exhibition <i>Nos ann\u00e9es 80<\/i>, making his work emblematic of the decade. In September he has his first exhibition in Korea at the Blue Gallery, Seoul. He starts working in three dimensions, using concave frames and inserting objects into the canvas and the frame. Introduces him to religious art by showing him round churches and cathedrals. He is deeply affected by the icons and stained glass he sees. Combas\u2019 painting moves towards a \u201cspiritual\u201d style. The drips begin to appear. He takes an interest in alchemy, religion and medieval art.<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-3812\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-3812 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1990<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-3812 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">The exhibition at the Wolf Schulz Gallery in San Francisco in February is the first to feature the new \u201cdripping\u201d style. The one put on at the Mus\u00e9e Toulouse-Lautrec in Albi, <i>Combas-Toulouse-Lautrec<\/i>, highlights the artist\u2019s formal evolution. It also causes ructions on the museum board: the canvases are judged shocking. The exhibition tours to the Mus\u00e9e de Blois and to the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in Taiwan.On 11 July Robert Combas is condemned to pay a \u201csymbolic franc\u201d to Jean-Paul Belmondo for having insulted his image by including his face in a work from 1984. Genevi\u00e8ve makes <i>Robert Combas\u00a0: L\u2019alchimie du verbe<\/i>, a documentary portrait of the artist.<br \/>\n[vc_media_grid grid_id=&#8221;vc_gid:1451659708135-0254b6e1-2f61-1&#8243; include=&#8221;127,129,130&#8243;]<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-4692\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-4692 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1991<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-4692 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">This year sees three important events: two exhibitions in Paris: <i>La Bible<\/i> at Galerie Beaubourg, <i>Les Saints <\/i>at Yvon Lambert, and the publication by \u00c9ditions de La Diff\u00e9rence of a 358-page monograph by Bernard Marcad\u00e9. As a man in the news, Combas is invited on the TV show <i>Nulle part ailleurs<\/i>.<br \/>\n[vc_single_image image=&#8221;131&#8243; img_size=&#8221;medium&#8221; add_caption=&#8221;yes&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; onclick=&#8221;link_image&#8221;]<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-1478\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-1478 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1992<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-1478 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">S\u00e8te puts on two simultaneous exhibitions: <i>Aquest\u00e9cop<\/i>, in which Combas shows works made since 1977 and <i>La mauvaise r\u00e9putation<\/i>, in which he expresses his vision of the songs of Georges Brassens. Galerie Moser in Geneva puts on the first exhibition of the \u201cAcademic Tattoos\u201d on paper.<b>1993 <\/b>The exhibition <i>Du Simple et du Double<\/i> at the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris presents paintings inspired by the texts of Sylvie Hadjean. Combas\u2019 works in red chalk are shown for the first time, as is the large stained-glass piece, the <i>Dormeur Duval<\/i>.<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-6056\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-6056 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1994<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-6056 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">The exhibition at the Manoir de Cologny (near Geneva), <i>Dessins, peintures, meubles peints<\/i>, features the first paintings on records.<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-3283\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-3283 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1995<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-3283 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">In April the Fondation Coprim in Paris presents an exhibition on the theme of music: <i>La musique et touti couinti<\/i>. This is where Combas met Sophie Raynaud, who will also be part of his life \u2013 and therefore of his work \u2013 for several years.<br \/>\n[vc_single_image image=&#8221;132&#8243; img_size=&#8221;medium&#8221; add_caption=&#8221;yes&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; onclick=&#8221;link_image&#8221;]<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-8779\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-8779 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1997<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-8779 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">The exhibitions <i>\u0152uvres r\u00e9centes<\/i> at Galerie Charlotte Moser (Geneva) and <i>Diou m\u00e9 damn\u00e9 ! Macarel ! Je fais une r\u00e9trospective<\/i> at Villa Tamaris (La Seyne-sur-Mer) feature new works done on magazine pages.<i>Portraits glitter brillants<\/i> at Galerie Laurent Strouk (Paris) features relief paintings.<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-feature-item feat-item  \"><div class=\"feat-dot \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow \"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"timeline-header\" id=\"timeline-featured-6965\"  style=\"\"><h3\n\t\t\t class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"   data-ultimate-target='#timeline-featured-6965 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1998<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive custom-lht\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-featured-6965 .custom-lht'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">The exhibition<i> Ben et Combas &#8211; Entre deux guerres<\/i> shows the two artists together at the Historial de la Grande Guerre in P\u00e9ronne. They separately produces works expressing their vision of the 1914\u201318 War. Combas paints on photographs made on the shoot of <i>Les croix de bois<\/i>, a film made in 1931 by Raymond Bernard, which he was impressed by four years earlier, and on photographs of the Great War.<br \/>\n[vc_single_image image=&#8221;133&#8243; img_size=&#8221;medium&#8221; add_caption=&#8221;yes&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; onclick=&#8221;link_image&#8221;]<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-wrapper \"><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-8919\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-8919 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">1999<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-8919 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">For the exhibition <i>Ex Originibus picturae<\/i> at the old bishop\u2019s palace of Sarlat, Combas works on the theme of Lascaux and prehistory during a three-month residency in a disused aquarium building. This exhibition revives the intense pleasure he takes in the act of painting, and also his use of large-format canvases \u2013 one of them is five metres long and represents a shaman, flute in hand, chasing an antelope. Combas creates an effect of volume by inserting the sticks used for stirring syrup, ending in colourful butterflies. The exhibition is also noteworthy for the diversity of media on show.The exhibition <i>Tronche d\u2019habits<\/i> at Espace Cardin in Paris features a series of works done on clothes. Most of these sculptures\/canvases are shown in light-boxes. A room with sound is set aside for three works on the theme of the symphony orchestra.<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-6049\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-6049 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">2000<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-6049 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">Held simultaneously in three different galleries \u2013 Charlotte Moser, Geneva; Rachlin Lemari\u00e9, Paris, and Dewart in Brussels\u2014the exhibition <i>Marilyn Combas<\/i> in June) sees the artist appropriating the absolute icon of femininity, Marilyn Monroe, much as he has done in his early days with Mickey Mouse. Working directly on reproductions of silkscreens by Andy Warhol, Combas offers a very different vision, breaking up the smooth, stereotyped face of the sex goddess to recapture the plurality of her humanity as a woman. The exhibition catalogue is an object in its own right complete with CD in which the artist gives a rhythmic rendition of his works titles-cum-texts to a musical background. Held at the Mus\u00e9e Paul Valery, S\u00e8te, in July, the exhibition <i>Ma\u00ef aqui<\/i> features paintings evoking the artist\u2019s childhood memories of S\u00e8te.<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-8873\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-8873 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">2002<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-8873 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">Combas moves his studio to Ivry-sur-Seine. This is the first time he has owned his work space. He meets the Belgian gallerist Guy Pieters: this is the beginning of a stimulating and challenging collaboration. <i>Une expo d\u2019\u00e9t\u00e9 de musique et d\u2019images<\/i> at Galerie H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Trintignan in Montpellier is a striking homage to music. Combas shows works that synthesise his childhood memories and school-book drawings of rock groups, his interest in music (rock, jazz, blues, etc.) and new techniques that he is beginning to try out. The exhibition <i>Les vieux d\u00e9gueulasses (ou voici o\u00f9 en est la libert\u00e9 d\u2019expression)<\/i> at Galerie Metropolis, Lyon, in June features a series of Academic Tattoos which Combas combines with texts that verge on the disgusting. The point is not so much to provoke as to reflect an age when sex is everywhere. They are also a reference to S\u00e8te and the characteristically colourful speech of its inhabitants.<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-8692\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-8692 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">2003<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-8692 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">Galerie Guy Pieters at Knokke-Le-Zoute, Belgium, exhibits paintings of still lifes and the artist\u2019s friends and family.<br \/>\nCombas does a two-month residency in Aix-en-Provence, where he exhibits in eight different spaces for a \u201cCombas Season\u201d. He executes a set of large-format paintings on the themes of the Middle Ages, courtly love, King Ren\u00e9, and C\u00e9zanne\u2019s Mont Sainte-Victoire. Exhibiting at the Cit\u00e9 du Livre gives him the chanced to develop the use of writing in his paintings. Like the pages from a private diary, eight works reveal his most intimate doubts and thoughts. Robert Combas starts working with Ladislas Kijno. Galerie Charlotte Moser in Geneva shows how Combas\u2019 experiments have developed: his illustrious tattooed figures are now glued on the canvas and edged with bright paint, setting up a contrast with the matt finish of the paper and the lines.<br \/>\n[vc_single_image image=&#8221;134&#8243; img_size=&#8221;medium&#8221; add_caption=&#8221;yes&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; onclick=&#8221;link_image&#8221;]<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-5933\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-5933 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">2004<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-5933 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">The exhibition <i>Tatouages acad\u00e9miques<\/i> at Galerie H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Trintignan in Montpellier shows a new development in the work, with larger formats and greater numbers of figures.<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-3133\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-3133 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">2005<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-3133 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">The exhibition <i>En avant la musique<\/i> at the Palais B\u00e9n\u00e9dictine in F\u00e9camp presents some two-score works on the theme of music made between 1982 and 2005. Robert Combas and Guy Pieters\u2019 shared love of a challenge leads to the exhibition of the monumental<i> D\u00e9esse Isis-V\u00e9nus<\/i> at the exhibition <i>Mots d\u2019oreille<\/i> mounted by Pieters on the fringe of the Venice Biennale. The work is housed in the superb Magazzini del Sale (Salt Warehouse), standing opposite ten large-format canvases whose metaphysical dimension exudes incredible energy. Combas\u2019 works are presented at the exhibitions <i>My favorite things<\/i> at the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Art Contemporain in Lyon and in <i>Big bang<\/i> at the Mus\u00e9e National d\u2019Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris).<br \/>\n[vc_single_image image=&#8221;135&#8243; img_size=&#8221;medium&#8221; add_caption=&#8221;yes&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; onclick=&#8221;link_image&#8221;]<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-9281\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-9281 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">2006<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-9281 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">The big retrospective<b> <\/b><i>Savoir-Faire<\/i> is put on thanks to the work of Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Mozziconacci and Jean-Luc Maslin. The show tours to South Korea, helping to consolidate the artist\u2019s reputation internationally. It opens at the Seoul Museum of Art, then proceeds to Kyongnam, the Gyeongnam Art Museum, Changwon and the Asiana Museum, Daejeon. Galerie H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Trintignan in Montpellier puts on <i>Combas-Kijno \u0152uvres<\/i>. Galerie Guy Pieters presents the exhibition <i>One man show Robert Combas<\/i> during Art Paris at the Grand Palais. The Academic Tattoos are now fully-fledged paintings. Combas is using a new paint with metallic highlights and bright colours that react to light. He paints the ground and frame then heightens the ground using matt paint. The combination of glossy ground and matt overpainting creates vivid variations in light.Works by Robert Combas feature in the exhibition <i>Il \u00e9tait une fois Walt Disney<\/i> at the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais in Paris.<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-2811\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-2811 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">2007<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-2811 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">Robert and Genevi\u00e8ve make the studio at Ivry-sur-Seine their home. Held during the Cannes Film Festival, the exhibition <i>Cin\u00e9phage \u00e0 gogo<\/i> at the Centre d\u2019Art La Malmaison in Cannes features a selection of works on movie themes, done in a great variety of media. Also at this time a statue paying homage to Goscinny is inaugurated. This work is doubly a homage to the writer of the Ast\u00e9rix books because it is made up of the letters of the word \u201csc\u00e9nariste\u201d (writer, scriptwriter). <i>Chemin de Croix Combas-Kijno<\/i> is exhibited at the Hospice d\u2019H\u00e2vr\u00e9, Maison Folie in Tourcoing) and, the following year, at the Chapelle Saint-Louis, Manufacture des Gobelins, Paris. Kijno and Combas show a work made between 2003 and 2005, a product of the friendship between the two artists: fourteen panels retracing the Passion of Christ. Kijno began the works and sent them on to Combas, who reworked them. The power of Combas\u2019 colour and outlines underscores the force of Kijno\u2019s explosions of liquid and big black marks.<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-9969\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-9969 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">2008<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-9969 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">The exhibition<i> Qu\u2019es Aco ?<\/i> at the Fondation Van Gogh in Arles features, among others, paintings, sculptures, ceramics and small gouaches. The series of Mediterranean grandmothers reflects the painter\u2019s fondness for the cultural melting pot of the Mediterranean.<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-2464\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-2464 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">2009<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-2464 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">Combas buys a new studio at Les Lilas. The exhibition<i> Le frimeur flamboyant<\/i> at the Maison Europ\u00e9enne de la Photographie in Paris gives Combas the chance to go back to his work on photography and reproduction, and to respond to photography as a painter. By means of retouching and painting, he breathes new life into these portraits on glossy paper. <i>Freedom, Diversity and Oppression<\/i> at the Danubiana Meulenstein Art Museum, Slovakia, conveys the incredible freedom with which Combas diversifies his subjects and media. It includes the monumental sculptures <i>La D\u00e9esse Isis-V\u00e9nus<\/i> and <i>Les deux guerriers<\/i><br \/>\n[vc_media_grid grid_id=&#8221;vc_gid:1451659707384-13d86d1c-1cad-0&#8243; include=&#8221;136,137&#8243;]<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-4583\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-4583 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">2010<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-4583 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">The exhibition <i>Sans filet, les Goulamas sont dans le trou<\/i> at Galerie Guy Pieters in Paris marks the artist\u2019s comeback on the Paris art scene. The artist takes on the theme of the Fall by offering his interpretation of <i>Paradise Lost <\/i>by John Milton (1667). His style continues to evolve: by synthesising his earlier work on volume, he achieves a three-dimensional effect with the bodies of his figures, which literally project forward from the canvas. His works now are lighter and, by the play of the contradictory energies transposed onto the canvas through the medium of paint, Combas draws us into a whirlpool of emotions. At this exhibition Combas meets Lucas Mancione and the two men embark on a prolific musical collaboration.<br \/>\n[vc_media_grid grid_id=&#8221;vc_gid:1451659707199-16ecef97-8104-2&#8243; include=&#8221;138,139,140&#8243;]<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-feature-item feat-item  \"><div class=\"feat-dot \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow \"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"timeline-header\" id=\"timeline-featured-4632\"  style=\"\"><h3\n\t\t\t class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"   data-ultimate-target='#timeline-featured-4632 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">2011<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive custom-lht\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-featured-4632 .custom-lht'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">Combas and Mancione compose over forty songs and produce accompanying videos to express the music visually. Nearly thirty years after Les D\u00e9mod\u00e9s, Robert Combas, Lucas Mancione and Pierre Relxach form a group: Les Sans Pattes. <i>The Sans Pattes <\/i>give their first live performance for the tenth birthday of the Mus\u00e9e International des Arts Modestes and at the <i>Voix Vives de m\u00e9diterran\u00e9e en m\u00e9diterran\u00e9e<\/i> poetry festival. Both events are in S\u00e8te. They later play with percussionist Ga\u00ebl Managou during the exhibition <i>Continents psych\u00e9d\u00e9liques<\/i>, organised by the Centre Culturel Fran\u00e7ais in Pointe-Noire in Congo. The year is dominated by an attempt to synthesise deep, basic feelings in a unified piece of work. When a person seems unable to grasp the gist of what they are hearing, the other person often says, \u201cDo I have to draw you a picture?\u201d In the case of Combas, we could now add, \u201cDo you want me to play you a song?\u201d Robert certainly talks (God knows he does!), but he is never as clear as when he is expressing himself in his creative work. His art has always been very human, and, whether painting or making music, he always puts all his feelings, from the most beautiful to the darkest, or wildest, into what he does. He builds cathedrals of emotion and sensitivity. His works are becoming more spare, the colours getting softer, showing us the palette of emotions that Combas has communicated to them, as if he wanted them to come to life and explain to us what we otherwise might not have grasped.<br \/>\n[vc_single_image image=&#8221;141&#8243; img_size=&#8221;medium&#8221; add_caption=&#8221;yes&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; onclick=&#8221;link_image&#8221;]<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><div class=\"timeline-wrapper \"><div class=\"timeline-block \"><div class=\"timeline-dot\"><\/div><div class=\"ult-timeline-arrow\"><s><\/s><l><\/l><\/div><div class=\"timeline-icon-block\"><div class=\"ult-timeline-icon tl-icon-no-bg\" style=\"   \"><\/div> <!-- icon --><\/div><div class=\"timeline-header-block\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-item-1036\" class=\"timeline-header\" style=\"\"><h3 class=\"ult-timeline-title ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-1036 .ult-timeline-title'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">2012<\/h3><div class=\"ult-responsive timeline-item-spt\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-item-1036 .timeline-item-spt'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"\">Robert Combas retrospective at the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Art Contemporain in Lyon<i>: Greatest Hits, on commence par le d\u00e9but, on termine par la fin<\/i>, from 24 February to 15 July.\u00a0Watch this space\u2026Isis Chiappe-Canavelli, January 2012.<br \/>\n[vc_media_grid grid_id=&#8221;vc_gid:1451659673226-d7b09f24-5e5e-10&#8243; include=&#8221;142,143,144,145&#8243;]<br \/>\n<\/div><\/div> <!-- header --><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div id=\"timeline-seperator-1502\" class=\"timeline-separator-text \" data-sep-col=\"\" data-sep-bg-col=\"\"><span class=\"sep-text ult-responsive\"  data-ultimate-target='#timeline-seperator-1502 .sep-text'  data-responsive-json-new='{\"font-size\":\"\",\"line-height\":\"\"}'  style=\"border-width:1px;border-radius:5px;\">To be continued...<\/span><\/div><div class=\"timeline-wrapper \"><\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":27,"parent":57,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.combas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/37"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.combas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.combas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.combas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.combas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":42,"href":"https:\/\/www.combas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/37\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":470,"href":"https:\/\/www.combas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/37\/revisions\/470"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.combas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/57"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.combas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.combas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}