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LINDA COMBI - artist
Linda Combi was born in San Francisco, California, but
was drawn to Europe in a quest for Art and Romance. Now a British National
and cricket aficionado, she produces artwork for magazines, books, and for
exhibitions. Her fascination with cricket inspired a book of cartoons
entitled “A Broad on the Boundary”, which was published (and remaindered) by
the Fourth Estate in 1992. (See Amazon for used copies). Monthly
caricatures in the Cricketer Magazine required much ‘research’ at cricket
grounds around the country from 1994 to 2004.
Her humorous illustrations have appeared in The
Observer Magazine, The Times, the Independent on Sunday, Tatler Magazine,
and Sainsbury’s Magazine, as well as in illustration exhibitions.
She continues to exhibit work in a range of media, from
graphic collages to 3D Assemblages.
Artist’s Statement
'I
regard laughter as one of the essential ingredients for survival in today’s
world. During the late 1950’s and early 1960’s my parents subscribed to the
New Yorker Magazine. As a child I was hugely entertained by the cartoons I
found there, especially the work of Saul Steinberg. His witty drawings
provided sharp and surreal observations on American life. And they were
beautiful drawings too. I was made aware of the power of humour by his
work, as well as that of so many favourite comedians, humorous writers and
filmmakers. Humour can burst pomposity and undermine prejudice. Recent work
of mine employs various types of humour, ranging from gentle mockery to
angry satire.
The “Seven Deadly Sins” series aims to bring a
timeless subject up to date, as human foibles are a rich source of humour.
I’ve always been interested in the combination of text and image. I’ve
created each of the sinful ‘characters’ around the words describing them,
so that the G in “Greed”, for instance, makes the stomach and tail of a Fat
Cat.
I wanted to have fun with character traits when working
with the “Signs of the Zodiac” series. This work was fed by my love of
people watching. I’ve also used the words in each of the signs as a means
of constructing the images.
“The Brits” series is a celebration of my recent British
Nationalisation, and explores the variety of traditions and eccentricities
I’ve observed over the years: the love of gardening, cricket, pantomime,
pub-crawls and dog walking.
Linda Combi
March 2009
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