The subjects of Eric Lacombe’s expressionistic paintings are neither living nor dead; they are floating between worlds, their processes of decay momentarily paused so we can witness the transformation of consciousness into the unknown. His subjects appear melancholic, the storm of terror and agony having recently passed. “Imagine the very moment before death, when life slips away and something new begins: this moment is truly precious, because everything is silent,” Lacombe wrote in a statement for his “The Weight of Silence” exhibition at The Last Rites Gallery. It is this mortal stillness—this total surrender to what lies beyond death—that Lacombe seeks to portray. His thick application of paint adds a tactile element to the viewer’s experience, creating swirling, contoured landscapes of flesh, bone, and emotion that invite dark, subjective interpretations.

Images © Eric Lacombe