Philip Colbert has taken up the legacy of Pop Art with such commitment and relish that he has been referred to as “The Godson of Andy Warhol”.
To Colbert, Pop’s lexicon is an egalitarian and highly effective vehicle for distilling and conveying universal symbols with immediacy. It is also an excellent conduit for satire, which Colbert recognises as the most universally effective method of communicating ideas that, in his words, “shake the cage”.
His take on Pop is nevertheless hugely original and feels fresh and accessible. His highly saturated, airbrushed finish eliminates any trace of the artist’s hand in favour of an aesthetic that cleverly makes us second guess whether it is digitally generated. His work is also replete with art historical reference points, inverting and toying with his audience’s perception of Pop’s throwaway or disposable imagery.
Colbert is also frequently described as a ‘Neo-Surrealist’ and The Lobster, his muse and alter-ego, is inherently steeped in the legacy of Salvador Dali, a forebear who also found himself drawn to the alien and absurd qualities of this extraordinary creature. As ever with Colbert however, the meaning is many layered. His adoption of the lobster speaks also to a fascination with its earlier symbolism within Dutch still life as a metaphor for mortality. Lobsters have been known to live for hundreds of years, and Colbert seeks to harness the lobster’s history as a cipher for humanity’s wrestle with our transience in this world.