Robert Andy
Coombs
He // Him // His
[ID: A Polaroid of a shirtless man seen from the shoulders up. His skin is lit in stark contrast, with the left half of his face in shadow. He has short brown hair and a goatee. His chest and shoulders are spotted with illegible tattoos.]
Miami, FL
2022 USA Fellow
This award was generously supported by the USA Endowment Fund.
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Robert Andy Coombs grew up in Michigan’s majestic Upper Peninsula, where he spent his childhood roaming the great outdoors. Coombs started photographing his walkabouts in middle school and moved on to portraiture in high school. He received a scholarship to Kendall College of Art and Design (KCAD) in Grand Rapids. During his third year as an undergrad, he sustained a spinal cord injury due to a gymnastics training accident. After a year of recovery, he returned to KCAD and received his BFA in photography in 2013. His photography explores the intersections of disability and sexuality. Themes of relationships, caregiving, fetish, and sex are depicted and explored throughout. Coombs graduated from the Yale School of Art amid the COVID-19 pandemic and is currently residing in sunny Miami, Florida.
Portrait photo by Marshall.
Nude on grass, 2017.[ID: A photograph of a White disabled man laying horizontally, center right of the image, on a manicured lawn. His chest and arms are tattooed, and the image is cropped just below a yellow tube that is inserted in the man’s groin. He looks directly into the camera.]
“Untitled” polaroid, 2021.[ID: A brightly lit photograph of a shirtless White person laying in the lap of a Black person. Both figures' features are somewhat obscured by the brightness of the photograph, however, their relaxed poses and candid smiles are friendly and intimate. A multicolored border surrounds the photograph, a dreamy composition of green, orange, and yellow pixelated squares creating a soft gradient.]
“Untitled” Wilton Manors Pride, 2021.[ID: A square photograph of two muscular men standing outside; their torsos are tan and tattooed. Between the men are two small shirtless boys, around age five. The blonde boy on the left looks off to the right. The boy to the right brandishes a miniature American flag, aimed at the viewer, with one of his eyes closed in concentration.]