PHILIP COLBERT

With Colour Beyond Time, Philip Colbert ventures further into the possibilities of abstraction, while continuing to anchor his practice in the iconic lobster persona that serves as both alter ego and artistic lens. Known for his holistic pop world, Colbert here stages a dialogue between narrative and figuration on one side, and the abstraction of micro-detail, surface, and texture on the other.

The exhibition debuts two new bodies of work: large-scale abstractions and decorative flower paintings. These works foreground the power of primary colour and repetition, opening a space where perception itself becomes the subject. The flower series, punctuated by fields of dots, recalls the legacy of modernist abstraction, while suggesting a more spiritual dimension within Colbert’s practice; an attentiveness to the micro as a way of transcending temporal boundaries. These works are intercut with Colbert’s ongoing battle series and new totem sculptures, situating the abstract within his broader cosmology of art history, myth, and world-building.

In addition, at NOKE mall, Philip Colbert’s 10-metre inflatable figure playfully merges the natural world with the language of pop culture. The lobster, sprouting mushrooms from its limbs, shoes, and clothes, evokes both wonder and transformation. The work also draws on art historical precedents such as Claes Oldenburg’s soft sculptures, where scale, material, and humour reframe the everyday as monumental. It speaks to the strange overlap between art, advertising, and mass culture, acknowledging its own place in that lineage.

Colour Beyond Time celebrates colour and form as primal forces that resonate beyond story, beyond chronology, and toward a universal aesthetic spirit.