Philip Colbert

Contemporary pop artist Philip Colbert is a defining voice of modern pop, Colbert was described by Andre Leon Talley as “the godson of Andy Warhol”.

Working across genres of painting, embroidery, furniture, sculpture and wearable art, Colbert has created a very modern and recognizable pop voice. Philip Colbert’s strong use of colour and abstraction of iconic imagery place his work within a dialogue with contemporary artists. Like his Pop Art predecessors, he employs aspects of mass culture and removes them from their context to create a provocative, satirical language of his own.

Colbert conceives the 1950s American kitchen aesthetic and cartoon characters as the foundation of ‘Pop’ and layers it with his own playful response to icons and symbols associated with fine art, such as meat imagery, prominent in the work of Chaim Soutine and Francis Bacon. In doing so, he creates a dialogue with established ideas and works of the past. He ironically pastiches this imagery, playing on the notion that their repetition and overuse over the years have rendered them symbols of popular culture.

Also known for his outlandish wearable art adored by Lady Gaga and Cara Delevingne, Colbert promotes the concept of ‘wearable art’, a synthesis of fashion and art that was explored in his first gallery show at Gazelli Art House, London in September 2014.