Raphe Coombes, The Corner Store Gallery. Photograph by Madeline Young.

Q & A with Raphe Coombes

Raphe Coombes has been part of The Corner Store Gallery family since 2019 when he first submitted a work to our Landscapes Group Exhibition. I fell in love instantly and selfishly acquired the painting for myself, I just had to have it! Since then Raphe’s work has blossomed and developed while maintaining his signature, tactile style. The oil paint is so thick and buttery, you could eat it. Instantly recognisable by his symbolic gestures and repeated patterns and marks. Neon yellow dots of thick oil paint and swirly graphite lines create a unique language that represent the natural environment.

Live, Love, Paint is Raphe’s most recent body of work created at time of great change in his life, having recently become a father.

Live, Love, Paint is on display at The Corner Store Gallery from October 19th to 29th with pre-sales launching online at 8pm October 18th. Join us to celebrate the launch of the exhibition on Saturday November 22nd from 3pm.

Exhibition Catalogue

Tell us a little about your background. How long have you been making art?

Raised in Newcastle, NSW, I’ve had my hands in drawing and painting from a very young age. My older brother being a huge influence, we were always drawing together making up super hero characters and painting figures. Which eventually lead me to studying Fine Art, firstly at Hunter Street College, Newcastle and afterwards I went traveling overseas, enriching my eye for culture and the importance of art.

I visited spectacular major museums and galleries while in Europe and America.

I distinctly remember one show at Dulwich Picture Gallery in London was a turning point for me. A joint exhibition of Cy Twombly & Nicolas Poussin’s work titled ‘Arcadian Painters’, I wandered around this show in awe of two great masters from different eras, juxtaposed together, for 4-5hrs. I was completely mind blown at the scale and mythological themes and theatricality of the works. When I was ready to leave I found my travelling partner asleep on a bench out the front. She thought I was nuts!

On returning to Australia, I moved to the Blue Mountains and continued my studies at Kingswood Art and Design School and finally Orange Art and Design College.

You have a very distinctive style; can you talk us through your process?

As a painter your practice never leaves you. I’m always thinking about it, following a bird flight trail or listening to a bird song. Music and lyrics I find very visual too, playing with my son in the garden, the energy of a scene or a framed moment in time, where you think ‘that would make a great painting’. That’s what I love most about art. It’s the never ending source and subject material for inspiration, nothing is off the table.

When I’m painting in the landscape, it’s about setting up camp and digging my hands into the dirt, swimming in the freezing cold river and discovering the area, finding the subtle nuances of the place, taking in the unique flora and fauna and

gaining knowledge about the history of the land from locals.

I set all my pigments, brushes, palette knifes up so everything is accessible quickly. I usually sit and paint in bursts on multiple works, connected, in a state of flow with the surroundings.

I’ve been making my own mediums for a while now and grinding pigments with them, adding a vibrancy to the colours, this process has also connected me with artists of the past.

Where do you create the work? Can you describe your space to our readers?

I try to create the majority of the work on site in the landscape that I’m painting. The larger works I find difficult to finalize onsite and finish off in the studio. I’ve discovered that a freshness in the work can be lost if I work too much in the studio, personally I’m much looser and connected when painting in the landscape. In saying that, some works are painted from memory or a journal entry, which are done completely in the studio.

My studio for this show was the lounge room at the house I was renovating in Glen Innes. It was incredible to have such a large space dedicated to working, it became like a mini gallery space and literally living with the works helped it all come together much faster. I also have my main workshop/studio in the Upper Hunter where I make my boards and framing.

What inspired the body of work you created for Live, Love, Paint?

Two things are at play. Firstly, becoming a father was the major one, this brought a personal intimacy to the work, and a stronger appreciation to the subtle moments of life, everyday life is incredibly exciting with a toddler and a massive part of the story telling of my work now, a lot of the pieces for the show have reference to our son, Banjo.

The second part is the landscape around Wytaliba in the Gibralter Ranges along the Mann River. I worked on this body of work during the winter months, connecting to the area over multiple camping/painting trips and talking to locals about the area. I was heavily inspired by this rich landscape.

The colour palette for this body of work is quite different to your usual work its much deeper, darker moodier, why is that?

This body of work was created over winter so naturally the palette is more in line with that season. I also got incredibly fixated on the painters hour, the last hour of light before nightfall, where the colours change dramatically. The foaming white and blue of the Mann River would turn a deep violet, river rocks that shined yellow during the day reduced to a earthy green glow. Some work I painted in darkness, with only the light of my fire

Being away from my family contributed to the moody palette, missing the connection will affect your work and colour choices subconsciously.

What’s next for Raphe Coombes?

Looking forward to a 3 week road trip down south in January, so far we have Mt Kosioscko on the list, I also have a couple of group shows coming up in December and March of next year.