Le gorille Diogène, Circa 2024

Damien Colcombet  

The youngest of seven children, Damien Colcombet was born in Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine) in 1967. His maternal family, the Huchets, have been based in Rennes for generations, counting entrepreneurs who shaped several streets and squares in the Breton capital (rue Hoche, place Hoche, rue de Robien, rue des Fossés, etc.). On his paternal side, originating from Lyon and Saint-Étienne, his family included silk weavers and ribbon makers, the Neyrets. His grandfather and father were agricultural engineers.

He first exhibited at the Din'Art gallery in Brittany and then at the Estades gallery in Lyon. Today, his works are shown in about ten venues across France and abroad, including Brussels, London, and Baden-Baden. In June 2017, the Cristel Art Center in Saint-Malo dedicated an exhibition to his bronzes alongside rare plates from an alphabet book by Mathurin Méheut.

In 2012, Damien Colcombet left his career in finance to fully dedicate himself to sculpture. Though primarily focused on animal art, he created in 2013, at the request of the Saint-Irénée Foundation in Lyon, a sculpture of Saint Irénée, one of which was presented to Pope Francis.

In September 2017, a monumental sculpture depicting a life-sized giraffe and giraffe calf was installed at the Parc de la Tête d’Or in Lyon, funded by patrons and individual donations. In 2023, he created an enlargement of Rosa Bonheur’s Walking Bull for the town of Thomery (Seine-et-Marne), where the artist once lived, and where her château can be visited.

• 2013 Édouard-Marcel Sandoz Prize from the National Salon of Animal Artists.