GILLES T. LACOMBE​
IMPACTARTIST
2018-2023​

“It might offer company or shelter or leave you exposed to your own hopes and fears… but it always gets to you.”

What is ImpactArt?
Art that matters. Any art that has an impact on those exposed to it, and like any good Art, it gives you a view on life. It asks questions. It challenges assumptions. It opens horizons. It takes you on a journey. It might offer company or shelter or leave you exposed to your own hopes and fears… but it always gets to you.

How is it different from other types of art?​
I am not sure it is different. But it is young. It has not made its way into the world yet. It is a relatively undefined space. So it has all the advantages of not being classified as a “school” or “style”, And I like that. It provides a sense of freedom and challenge I feel very comfortable with. But like any piece or form of art, today it will also be viewed as a form of investment. Interesting question; will Impact Art be seen as a safe investment? I do not know.

Will it be seen as a sound investment? That is the question we should ask. What drove you to ImpactArt?​​​
It is funny, but looking back I have been doing Impact Art since a while. I just did not know it. There was no term for it. It was not an available option. But I had the good fortune to work a lot with scientists in my life. That opened a lot of doors for me and my work. Their capacity to ask questions and challenge the status quo of their field in order to come up with new answers to old questions has always inspired me. I have also been teaching a lot, and students take nothing for granted. They keep you on your toes. Their questions may not be new, but they ask them in a totally different way than my generation did. A lot of energy and insight is coming from that kind of work.

Why is Art important?​​​
I am not sure that it is. What is sure is that it has been around since a good while. It has been a good companion of the human race for at least since 40.000 years. I do not know anybody who visited Lascaux and left indifferent. What sets us apart from other animals, some say, is the capacity to imagine what not is and then create it. I think that is a pretty good definition of what art does.