Robert Andy Coombs is an artist based in Miami but was born and raised in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Growing up in sparsely populated areas mostly devoid of queer culture affects the development of queer people for better or worse. The culture can stifle us and stunt our development. Or it can be the impetus to hold nothing back. Coombs’ work acknowledges the nuance of disability, including helplessness, the intimacy of caregiving, as well as the overt sexual nature we subconsciously decouple from disabled bodies. The artist’s photographic work is self-aware and acknowledges his disability with humor, levity, taboo, and pleasure. 

 

Disabled bodies are often thought of as innocent and in need of protection. Coombs challenges that idea by depicting himself and collaborators in erotic sexual situations. The work in the solo exhibition combines these overtly sexual scenes with scenes in which the artist is cared for and catered to. In Cumshot Caregiver, Coombs interrogates the dichotomy of helplessness and power, and in doing so the viewer has the pleasure of seeing the intimacy the artist cultivates in his own life. 

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Coombs has given numerous lectures on his artistic process, has been the subject of the podcast Talk Art, and has been praised by art critic Jerry Saltz.