Matthew Coombes (b. 1979)
Coombes previously studied at Central St Martins College of Art and Design, before graduating from the Royal Academy Schools in 2010.
Profile
Born: 1979
RA Schools student from 2007 to 2010
Gender: Male
Contact information:
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Gallery
![Installation view of work by Matthew Coombes in RA Schools Show 2010]()
Installation view of work by Matthew Coombes in RA Schools Show 2010
![Installation view of work by Matthew Coombes in RA Schools Show 2010]()
Installation view of work by Matthew Coombes in RA Schools Show 2010
![Installation view of work by Matthew Coombes in RA Schools Show 2010]()
Installation view of work by Matthew Coombes in RA Schools Show 2010
![Installation view of work by Matthew Coombes in RA Schools Show 2010]()
Installation view of work by Matthew Coombes in RA Schools Show 2010
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Read more
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![Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Charles Pugin, Drawing from Life at the Royal Academy, Somerset House (detail)]()
Inside the Academy
5 days ago
10 RA Schools stories through the centuries
Mark Hampson tells the stories of some of the former students of the RA Schools, from its inception in 1769 to the present day.
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![Attributed to Giampietrino (fl. 1508-1549) and Attributed to Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio (1467 - 1516), The Last Supper (detail)]()
Inside the Academy
10 months ago
Six spots to visit around the RA this summer
If you’re visiting our exhibitions this summer why not explore some of our other favourite places around the RA?
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![Nancy Allen at Deptford Market]()
RA Exhibitions
12 months ago
RA Schools Show 2023: Nancy Allen
In Deptford Market, Nancy Allen searches for objects she can transform in her sculptural work.
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![Louis Morlæ at his simulated nightclub]()
RA Exhibitions
12 months ago
RA Schools Show 2023: Louis Morlæ
During the pandemic, Louis Morlæ taught himself how to make a virtual world from scratch and created a nightclub as an antidote to an infectious world.
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![Motunrayo Akinola at his Islington gym]()
RA Exhibitions
12 months ago
RA Schools Show 2023: Motunrayo Akinola
While training in a martial arts gym in Islington, Motunrayo Akinola explains how art and fighting require the same discipline.
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![Anna Higgins in St James’s Piccadilly]()
RA Exhibitions
12 months ago
RA Schools Show 2023: Anna Higgins
In St James’s Piccadilly, Anna Higgins finds solace within the walls of a Wren church, where William Blake – a favourite artist and a former student at the Schools – was baptised.
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![Millie Layton]()
RA Exhibitions
< 2 years ago
Meet four artists in the RA Schools Show 2022
As the Royal Academy Schools Class of 2022 open up their studios for their final show, they reflect on how the building – from its Mayfair location to its crumbling corners – has influenced their practice.
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![2021 Starr Fellow Kevin Gallagher]()
Artists
> 2 years ago
Starr Fellow Kevin Gallagher on Rodin, rural Illinois, and his RA Schools residency
The Starr Fellowship provides a bursary and a studio at the RA Schools for a U.S. artist to develop their practice – we met 2021 Starr Fellow Kevin Gallagher.
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![Filmmaker and performance artist Jenkin van Zyl at the RA Schools.]()
RA Exhibitions
< 3 years ago
Meet three artists in the RA Schools Show 2021
From PVC-clad performance art to site-specific sculptural interventions, the work of RA Schools students has thrived despite the pandemic. Charlotte Jansen meets three of the artists as they prepare their long-planned final-year show.
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![Alfred Ansell, Life drawing of a reclining male nude. This drawing was produced by Alfred Ansell while he was a student at the Royal Academy Schools.]()
Our Collection
3 years ago
Victorian women and the fight for arts training
19th-century women faced an uphill struggle to get equal access to training at the Royal Academy Schools. Here, we delve into the RA Archive to learn more about women’s fight for equality.
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![A stash of paint and pencils in the RA Schools, 2019]()
Inside the Academy
> 4 years ago
12 books to influence creativity, picked by RA Schools students
Ahead of their mid-course show, ‘Premiums’, the Academy’s second-year post-graduate students reflect on the writing that has informed their practice.
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![Rebecca Salter PRA]()
Inside the Academy
> 4 years ago
Rebecca Salter PRA: the first female President of the Royal Academy of Arts
In an historic vote, the leading painter and printmaker, Rebecca Salter, has been elected the RA’s 27th – and first female – President.
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![Rebecca Salter RA]()
Artists
> 4 years ago
Rebecca Salter PRA: “Do not tell young people they can’t do things”
Meet Rebecca Salter PRA – the first female President in the RA’s 251-year history. Speaking in 2017 upon her election as Keeper of our Schools, she talks art and the next generation, trying a new culture and swimming in the winter.
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![Behind the scenes at the RA Schools, 2019]()
Inside the Academy
< 5 years ago
Behind the scenes in Britain’s oldest art school
The RA Schools has been nurturing, challenging and championing art students for 250 years. Before work begins on a big anniversary renewal, we took a look inside to find out what it’s like studying there in 2019.
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![Paul Brandford oversees a life-drawing workshop at Greenwich’s Eltham Hill School, with life model Anna Bird]()
Inside the Academy
5 years ago
Art under threat: why teaching’s in decline in our schools
Amy Sherlock addresses the slump in art teaching in Britain’s schools, and the effect this has on the art education ecosystem.
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![Students at work in the Royal Academy Schools, January 2019]()
Artists
5 years ago
Art under threat: the growing crisis in higher education
Britain’s reputation as a creative country is at risk, as threats mount to the education pathway that leads potential artists from school to university to professional life. Sam Phillips reports on the political challenges facing higher education.
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![Illustration by Yukai Du]()
Opinion
5 years ago
Debate: can you teach art?
Eliza Bonham Carter, Curator and Head of the RA Schools, and RA Schools student Ewan Macfarlane share their thoughts. Cast your vote below.
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![Eileen Cooper in her Keeper's House studio]()
Artists
< 7 years ago
Eileen Cooper: “Artists love to say they’re unique. We’re not”
With two solo shows this year, her final months as the Keeper of the Royal Academy Schools and the job of coordinating this year’s Summer Exhibition, it’s a busy time for Eileen Cooper. In the latest in our ‘As I see it’ series, the artist talks bad reviews, good dogs, and what she’ll do once all this work is done.
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![Varda Caivano]()
RA Exhibitions
< 7 years ago
The studios behind the Summer Exhibition
How are the capital’s artists using their working spaces today? In the spirit of this year’s Summer Exhibition, which is encouraging artists who have not shown before at the RA, Skye Sherwin visits first-time exhibitors at work to see what they are bringing to the Academy.
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![Eddie Peake: As I see it]()
Artists
> 7 years ago
Eddie Peake: “I wanted to do anything but be an artist”
Marking a solo show at White Cube Hong Kong, RA Schools alumnus Eddie Peake spoke to us about football, finding himself and “ferocious attention seeking.”
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![Paints in an RA Schools studio]()
Inside the Academy
> 8 years ago
New rules and new tools: life at the RA Schools
At the RA Schools, post-graduate students have three years to develop their ideas and work. Here second-year students reveal how the course is changing their art, as they prepare their first group show at the RA, Premiums: Interim Projects.
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![Marina Abramovic Hon RA]()
Artists
> 8 years ago
Lessons in life, love and art from Marina Abramovic
From losing consciousness to sitting motionless every day for three months, the inimitable artist pushes her body to its limits. Watch her in conversation with Bryan Appleyard.
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![Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, No Place for Nature]()
Artists
9 years ago
Preview: Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at the Serpentine
The imagined portraits by this RA Schools alumna and Turner Prize nominee are revelations from another world, says Kelly Grovier.
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![Lucy Williams , Bousfield School]()
Inside the Academy
9 years ago
Catching up with… Lucy Williams
As she launches her new book, Lucy Williams discusses her time at the RA Schools and tells us how her block colour, architectural collages bring a fresh perspective to urban landscapes.
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![Portrait of artist Mary Ramsden]()
Inside the Academy
9 years ago
Catching up with… Mary Ramsden
Before she departs for a residency in Connecticut, Mary Ramsden discusses her time at the RA Schools and tells us what she’s been up to since graduating in 2013.
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![Grace O'Connor, Girl Fight]()
Artists
> 9 years ago
Catching up with… Grace O‘Connor
From her studio in Southwark, the former RA Schools student Grace O’Connor describes how her experience at the Academy formed her future painting practice.
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![From left: Daniel Lipp, Aimee Parrott, Brian Griffiths, Marisa J. Futernick, Ellen Macdonald and Julie Born Schwartz, Coco Crampton, Phyllida Barlow RA, Alex Clarke, Ariane Schick, Gabriel Stones, Alice Theobold, Alex Chase White (seated), Hannah Perry, P]()
RA Exhibitions
< 10 years ago
RA Schools students discuss their upcoming final show
As students from the RA Schools prepare for their final show, what are their feelings about leaving after three intensive years of study? Some of them discuss the issues they face with Schools tutor Brian Griffiths and Phyllida Barlow RA, who has been involved in art education for 45 years.
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![Life Drawing Room]()
Inside the Academy
> 10 years ago
Nicolas Bourriaud: What is the exform?
Culture, history and rejection in the Google era.
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