NSWF | Featured Photographer: Chad Coombs - “Polaroid Portraits”
Chad Coombs’ Portraits series is an audacious foray into the unsettling terrain where identity, faith, and societal norms collide. Known for his minimalist and abstract approach to portraiture, Coombs utilizes Polaroid film as a medium to deconstruct the conventional perceptions of beauty and identity, reassembling them into something far more raw and authentic. His work is both a personal exploration and a societal critique, challenging viewers to confront the artifice embedded within the norms we accept.
Coombs’ journey into the world of Polaroid art is rooted in his quest for understanding—a quest that is both intellectual and deeply emotional. Living with autism, he has always been driven by a need to explore and dissect the world around him, driven by an innate curiosity that seeks to unravel the complexities of human experience. “Autism is a lens through which I see everything,” Coombs explains. “It’s not just a condition; it’s a way of perceiving the world that makes me ask endless questions.” This relentless questioning, this desire to uncover truths that are often overlooked or obscured by societal norms, is what fuels Coombs’ creative process. The Portraits series can be seen as a visual manifestation of these questions, an attempt to peel back the layers of societal constructs to reveal something more authentic beneath.
In the Portraits series, Coombs explores the constructed nature of both beauty and religion, questioning the ideals that have shaped societal perceptions for centuries. In an era dominated by digital manipulation, where beauty is increasingly commodified, Coombs deconstructs these standards by reimagining them through collage. By selecting and reassembling facial features from magazine covers and beauty ads, he creates composite faces that challenge the very foundations of these ideals. The resulting Polaroid images not only critique the artificial nature of beauty but also expose the myths upon which these standards are built. Coombs sees these beauty norms as societal fabrications, much like the constructs of religion that have been imposed throughout history.
In the below piece, Coombs reimagines the classical reclining nude, a staple of Western art, by infusing it with a modern critique of beauty standards. The figure, traditionally representing idealized femininity, is given an exaggerated and distorted face that disrupts the conventional narrative of beauty. This deliberate manipulation of the subject’s features highlights the artificiality of societal standards, suggesting that the historical portrayal of women in art is just as constructed and curated as today’s commercial ideals. Coombs challenges the viewer to question these long-held standards and to recognize the fluidity and subjectivity inherent in concepts of beauty.
Religious imagery is another recurring theme in Coombs’ work, reflecting his complicated relationship with faith. Raised in a household where religion was more performance than belief, Coombs grew up questioning the very foundations of the doctrines he was taught. "I was surrounded by people who expressed their faith through exaggerated gestures and ecstatic rituals," he recalls. "But to me, it all felt hollow, like they were acting out a script rather than engaging with something real." This skepticism finds expression in his portraits, where religious symbols are often distorted or repurposed to question their traditional meanings. Coombs is not interested in tearing down faith but in interrogating it—asking why we believe what we believe and what happens when those beliefs are exposed as constructs.
The religious motifs in Coombs’ work are not expressions of faith but rather explorations of the visual language that has shaped cultural perceptions for centuries. He draws inspiration from Baroque art, with its dramatic use of light and shadow and its emphasis on emotional intensity. However, Coombs subverts these traditional representations by placing them in a contemporary context, where their meanings are reinterpreted and challenged. This approach allows him to explore the intersections between past and present, tradition and modernity, faith and skepticism. It is a way of engaging with history while also questioning its relevance in today’s world.
In his reinterpretation of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, Coombs injects a provocative and contemporary twist into a classical masterpiece. The original scene, known for its portrayal of divine touch and human genesis, is subverted through the use of exaggerated and surreal facial features, reflecting a deeper commentary on the distortion of traditional narratives. By altering the faces and adding modern, almost grotesque elements, Coombs disrupts the viewer’s perception of the iconic imagery, inviting a reevaluation of the sacred and the profane. This image, like many in his Portraits series, challenges the authority of cultural icons, questioning their relevance and the narratives they perpetuate in today’s society.
The physical manipulation of Polaroids in Coombs' series introduces a rich, tactile quality to his work, transforming the images into painterly and sculptural forms. Coombs believes that texture plays a crucial role in conveying emotion, explaining, "Texture is a way of communicating emotion. It’s not just about how something looks, but about how it feels—both physically and mentally." This tactile approach allows him to break down and reconstruct images, engaging in an intellectual and deeply personal process. Through this method, he reclaims control over the narratives embedded in the imagery, challenging the conventional expectations placed on both the artist and the subject.
Coombs’ work serves as a powerful reminder that neither beauty nor religion are static or fixed concepts. Both are deeply intertwined with societal constructs and historical narratives that have been shaped over time. His art challenges these constructs, urging viewers to question the traditional standards of beauty and the role of religious symbols in contemporary culture. By reimagining these ideals, Coombs highlights their fluidity and subjectivity, encouraging a deeper examination of how these concepts influence our lives. "Art is my way of making sense of the world," Coombs reflects. "It allows me to transform the chaos around me into something tangible that others can see and, hopefully, understand."
GALLERY
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Chad Coombs is an award-winning, internationally recognized artist. He specializes in minimalistic and abstract portraiture that embraces individuality as well as Polaroid film manipulations. In 2010, Coombs had a solo exhibit at the Stroke.03 Urban Art Fair in Berlin, and in 2011 he had a solo show, "Expired" at the Candela Gallery in Munich. His work has been exhibited in Greece, Indonesia, Germany, and throughout Canada. Publications include Analog Forever, TCHAD, Prism, Frankfurter, PhotoChina, Printausgabe, Junge Kunst, Photoicon, PlayBoy, and more.
Coombs has spent time working on his craft in Saskatoon, Toronto, and Vancouver Canada. He focuses on people through portraiture and states that people scare and intrigue him equally. Longing for a better understanding of people, Coombs uses his camera and art as a way to inspect, dissect, and analyze in ways he is uncomfortable to in person as an individual living with autism.
Coombs has worked with Playboy, Pernod, TCHAD, PhotoChina, Digital Photographer, Lyrics Born, St Germain, Photo Icon, PhotoEd, Practical Photography, Doc Walker, Diageo, Reignwolf, Red Bull, and more.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Behlen is an instant film addict and the founder and publisher of Analog Forever Magazine. Behlen is an obsessive community organizer in the film photography world, including previously launching the independent publishing projects PRYME Magazine and PRYME Editions, two enterprises dedicated to the art of instant film. Through these endeavors, he has featured and published 250+ artists from around the globe via his print and online publications.
He has self-published two Polaroid photobooks -“Searching for Stillness, Vol. 1” and “I Was a Pioneer,” literally a boxed set of his instant film work. His latest book, Searching for Stillness Vol II was published in 2020 by Static Age.
Behlen’s Polaroid photography can be found in various publications including Diffusion Magazine, Fraction Magazine, Seities Magazine, and Polaroid Now (Chronicle Books, 2021). He loves the magic sensuality of instant film: its saturated, surreal colors; the unpredictability of the medium; its addictive qualities as you watch it develop. He spends his time shooting instant film and backpacking in the California wilderness, usually a combination of the two. Connect with Michael Behlen on his Website and on Instagram!
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