Welcome to Est. 1999, the official blog of Abraham Translations. As is perhaps easy to surmise, the name of this blog reflects the year that Abraham Translations was founded.
It all began with the correction of a few texts that had been translated by another time-pressed translator. Within the year, translating had become my main source of income; now, it has long been the only way I put bacon on the table.
I am rather proud of many of the projects on which I have worked. Est. 1999, basically, is a visual confirmation of past projects, a blowing of my own horn, a presentation of translator-related topics, and an occasional departure into other areas that I deem worthy of presenting. Enjoy.

Tuesday, 21 April 2015

Robert Combas – JOKE'R (Exhibition Catalog)

(SBN 10: 3925782559 / ISBN 13: 9783925782558) This catalog was perhaps my second translation job for DIE GALERIE, Frankfurt, which is now one of my oldest regular clients. The gallery, as I mentioned in my blurb about the Man Ray catalog, offers "a sophisticated exhibition program combining the Classical Modern and selected contemporary artistic positions". Needless to say, Robert Combas belongs to their stable of contemporary artists.
The texts of the hardcover catalog, by Peter Femfert ("Preface"), Beate Reifenscheid ("The Laughter of Death") and Maurizio Vanni ("Joke'r"), are presented in three languages (German, English, Italian). The exhibition itself ran at DIE GALERIE from 17 January to 10 March 2007, whence it moved to a space in Massa Marittima, Italy, and then finally ended at the Ludwig Museum in Koblenz (26 January 2008 — 9 March 2008).
Online at the Ludwig Museum website, they say the following about the artist: "Robert Combas was born in Lyon in 1957 and lives in Paris since 1981. Together with Rémi Blanchard, François Boisrond and Hervé di Rosa he established the group 'Figuration libre', which became a synonym for the rebellious art scene in France during the 1980s and which provoked and shocked with blatant motifs. [...] In 1983, the famous gallerist Leo Castelli already dedicated a solo exhibition in New York to Robert Combas, who is not only known as painter, draftsman and graphic artist but also appreciated for his fascinating large-sized resin sculptures. Similar to Keith Haring, for this artist there is nothing he does not paint, and it is mainly the line through which his associations takes shape. Combas is – like Haring – very familiar with the language of comics. [...] The works of Robert Combas are like Paris, the metropolis: Versatile and vibrant, bright or gloomy and brutal. Shrill colours, powerful contours and the use of a wide variety of materials are Combas' means for creating works which vary from comical to grotesque."
An example of Combas' work (not in the catalog)
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