Robert Holcombe has been painting for over three decades and in that time has gained national and international recognition and is represented in many corporate and private collections throughout the world.

His work is sort after by discerning art buyers in the corporate and private sectors, nationally and internationally and with current trends, is not only a visual pleasure but also an investment.

In the year 2000, Robert received national and international awards for his work titled Cry of the Wilderness in the Winsor & Newton Worldwide Millennium Painting Competition, which attracted over 22500 entries from 51 countries.

Robert's abstracted landscapes are a statement of the beauty and harshness yet fragility, of this untamed land. Expressed through strong, thick and thin lines dissecting, submerging and reappearing amongst varying textures and colours. Manipulating the work surface by the means of rubbing, scraping, wiping, scumbling, allowing the paint to run and glazing makes for a rich tapestry of design.

At times by using multiple perspectives, he challenges the viewer to question and re-think the way they see the landscape.

The result is work that explores the essence of the surface, framework and underlay of landscape rather than dealing with specifics. For the viewer this will mean many more metaphoric possibilities to consider.

The work can be viewed on 'face value'- purely for its colours, patterns, harmonies, contrasts and design or as an exaggeration and distortion for statement of the actual landscape be it close-up, distant, aerial or from under the surface (x-ray). The paintings can also be an environmental statement, the black lines representing the landscape's skeleton, the fragile 'skin' is being destroyed, eroded away or changed by man and nature.

Robert considers his works to be earthy and primal with a strong environmental statement.

More images can be obtained from
Seaview Gallery 5258 3645

             
         The Cooper   30x23cm               The campaspe(vic) 40x30cm
            acrylic on canvas