Holcombe, Robert

ROBERT HOLCOMBE – When I look at landscape, the objective contact is replaced with visual sensation, I see the landscape in terms of line, form, colour and space; my aim is to exploit that line, form, colour and space.

THE ART OF ROBERT HOLCOMBE: The Australian landscape is monumental, not only is its vastness, but also in its contrasts of form and colour. The landscape is also monumental in its diversity. Light, colour, form and texture are all subject to extremes of almost limitless variation.

The landscape of any locality, being the principal stimulus behind the work of any landscape artist, has the potential to exert an enormous influence upon those able to apprehend its full range of experience. Each of those artists within the Australian landscape genre whom posterity has deemed ‘great’ possess an innate affinity with the surroundings from which they draw their inspiration.

All of Holcombe’s work is imbued with a strong, often insistent sense of place, having its origin in the prolonged contact the artist boasts with the land. This contact consists not so much of rigid clinical observation, but rather, of communion with the land itself, providing Holcombe with both conscious and subconscious impressions from which to draw inspiration. The various elements of the land form the vocabulary of the landscape artist, serving simultaneously as both inspiration and language.

Holcombe uses the constituents of any given scene as a vehicle for transmitting his concepts of form, line and colour. Holcombe will often refine the various structural and textural components of his work down to their primal elements, and in this practice colour is no exception. The use of bold monotone being juxtaposed with subtle gradations of colour. The line has a natural tendency to grow in stature as subjects are reduced to their most basic geometry. In conjunction with his growing emphasis upon abstracted linear composition Holcombe has gravitated towards a more restricted palette often dominated by the tones of loosely referred as ‘black and white’.
In a very real sense, Holcombe’s oeuvre represents an assimilation and extension of the achievements of Australian landscape painting over the past half century.  Jason Sprague, Melbourne (Freelance Arts Writer) 2006

CRITIQUES: Robert’s abstracted landscapes are a statement of the beauty and harshness yet fragility of the landscape. Expressed through strong line, vibrant and subtle colour, varying textures and the use of space makes for a rich tapestry of design. By using multiple perspectives in some works, he challenges the viewer to question and re-think the way they perceive the landscape. Robert considers his work earthy, primal, and at times even tribal with a strong yet subtle environmental statement. He considers his major influences to be the landscape (geographically and spiritually), Celtic art (the artists is of Welsh extract), African and Japanese art.  Lynne Freedman, Melbourne (Arts Writer)

Robert Holcombe is self-taught; his individual, contemporary and abstract approach to Australian landscape is heart felt and dramatic, three words describe his work inspired, descriptive and unique.  Mr Neil Everist OAM 2009

Robert Holcombe’s latest series of highly abstracted landscapes is rich in colour and form. Using multiple perspectives, Holcombe brings to his palette an eye that views the land in a single vision that accounts for height, breadth and depth all at once. Earthy and primal his paintings work on a macro scale but just as well may be pieces viewed under a microscope.  Paul Isbel, Melbourne (CitySearch) 2000

Robert Holcombe of Australia chose more hard-hitting imagery to register his disgust at the despoliation of the Australian landscape, likening it to rape. Elements of his image of Mother Earth being violated relate to the work of Picasso and Francis Bacon, two of the 20th century’s greatest artist-commentators on the human condition and the bestial nature of man. The placement in the painting of the twisting and thrusting neck and head of the figure recalls the horse in the centre of Picasso’s masterpiece Guernica (1937), while the terrifying image of the scream recalls the centre section of Bacon’s triptych, Three Studies for the base of a Crucifixion (1944). The two white upright fractures in Holcombe’s picture indicate the permanence of the damage being caused to the natural environment. It appears to be a terminal process fuelled by business interests, represented by a bubble talk sign enclosing a dollar symbol in the detritus spilling from Mother Earth’s womb. Other symbols include dotted lines representing highways and a band-aid plaster to denote a temporary repair and a cover-up. The artist states plainly: ‘I am for preserving the planet. Australia along with the rest of the world is slowly destroying it’.  John Sheeran, London 2000

Robert Holcombe’s paintings are full of subtle texture, minimal design line and minimal flora impressions that successfully acknowledge the often-explored principle of ‘less is more’. The result is work that explores the essence of a harmonious Australian landscape rather than dealing with specifics and for the viewer this will mean many more metaphoric possibilities to consider.  Charles Radnay, (Geelong Advertiser) 1997

Robert Holcombe works and reworks his original drawings of the landscape, eliminating more and more detail, and refining the impressions, until he is satisfied with his interpretation of the Australian landscape. It is obvious from Roberts’s paintings that he feels a bond with the open space of the Australian interior. Robert is one of a number of artists who recognised those artists who have gone before have left us with many partly explored pathways that need to be examined and consolidated. He is a contemporary artist who has fused all the various influences and ideas that have come his way to create a style that is identifiably his, with confident colour values, on which his acrylic paintings rely.

D.D.W. Cameron, Melbourne (Freelance Arts Writer) 1993 Copyright Robert Holcombe and the contributors

Born: Australia 1945
Art Education: Self-Taught
Corporate Collections:
Ausdoc Group Ltd – Melbourne
Barloworld – Melbourne
Brambles Ltd. (USA)
DBM Australia Limited
FH Faulding Collection – Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney
Malca – Amit New York, Inc. – New York
Shepparton Regional Gallery- Victoria
The Directors Chair – Brisbane and Melbourne
University of Melbourne
University of Sydney – The George Institute
Valex Security Inc. – Melbourne, New York and London
Winsor & Newton – London
National Exhibitions:
Solo Exhibitions 33
Group Exhibitions 89
Private collections:
World Wide
National Competitions:
1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004- Tattersall’s Club Landscape Art Prize, Brisbane (by invitation)
2000, 2002- Finalist in the Flourier Prize- South Australia
1985, 1986- Diamond Valley Acquisitive- Melbourne
1966, 1967, 1968- Andrew Fairley Art Prize, Shepparton (1968 Finalist- Painting acquired by Shepparton Regional Gallery)
International Special Project:
2004 – United Nations International Art Education and Exhibition, New York (September)
International Exhibitions:
2003 – International Art Expo, New York (February/ March)
2003 – International Art Expo, Palm Springs (March)
2000 – The United Nations Millennium Art Exhibition, New York (July/August): ‘OUR WORLD in the YEAR 2000’
2000 – World Trade Center, Stockholm (March/April)
2000 – Mall Galleries, London (February)
1999 – The Old Gallery, Warsaw (September/ October): Cultural Exchange between the Cities of Warsaw and Melbourne.
International Competition:
Winsor & Newton Worldwide Millennium Painting Competition; My Country in theYear 2000.
International Award Winner: (London)
2000- The Winsor & Newton Worldwide Millennium Painting Competition (February): ‘OUR WORLD in the YEAR 2000’
National Award Winner: (Sydney)
1999 – Winsor & Newton Worldwide Millennium Painting Competition (June): ‘OUR WORLD in the YEAR 2000’
The National and International Award Winning Painting for OUR WORLD in the YEAR 2000, was
‘Cry in the Wilderness’ {Rape of the Landscape} 49x70cm, acrylic, crayon, ink and pencil on watercolour paper on board}
Note: The Winsor & Newton Worldwide Millennium Painting Competition, the largest event of its kind ever held, the competition attracted entries from over 22,000 amateur and professional artists from 51 countries on the theme of My Country in the Year 2000.
Publicity:
2009- Mr. Neil Everist OAM inspired, descriptive and unique
2007- Geelong Advertiser evocative
2006- Jason Sprague (freelance arts writer) a tangible sense of individuality pervades all of Holcombe’s work.
2005- Artprofil (German Art Journal) master of line
2004- Wentworth Courier, Sydney rich tapestry
2001- Brisbane News – Tattersall’s Club Art Prize Critics Choice
2000- The Age, Melbourne City Search – Terra Australis earthy and primal
2000- Our World in the Year 2000, London hard-hitting imagery
1997- Geelong Advertiser less is more
1993- Moorabbin Standard, Melbourne portrait of an artist who loves landscape
1993- D.D.Cameron (Arts Writer) style that is identifiably his
1985- Carlotta Bush (Arts Writer and Gallery Director) landscape straight from the heart
1982- Carlotta Bush (Arts Writer and Gallery Director) his interpretation of our Australian landscape is a very personal one
1978- Carlotta Bush (Arts Writer and Gallery Director) Holcombe is the landscape
1975- The Age, Melbourne reminiscent of 12th century Japanese art style
1971- The Age, Melbourne powerful and unique
1969- The Sun, Melbourne a promising start