Philip Colbert (b. 1979, Scotland) is a London-based contemporary artist best known for a vivid “hyper-pop history” universe led by his cartoon lobster alter ego. Working across painting, sculpture, performance and digital media, Colbert fuses old-master composition with the visual language of mass culture, advertising and the internet. Often described as the godson of Andy Warhol, he extends Pop’s wit into an era of memes, marketplaces and mixed realities.
Colbert’s paintings are dense, detail-rich tableaux where classical motifs collide with brand icons and emoji-age symbols; his monumental lobster sculptures stride through public spaces and museum settings worldwide. Institutional highlights include surveys at Saatchi Gallery in London, where his Lobsteropolis project introduced audiences to the breadth of his painterly and sculptural practice and its cast of lobster protagonists. Beyond the gallery, he has pioneered large-scale digital projects, launching the virtual city Lobsteropolis City and the community portrait series Lobstars, which expand his narrative world into immersive and participatory formats.
Across media, Colbert’s work explores how images circulate and accrue meaning, asking what authenticity, authorship and identity look like in the attention economy. He lives and works in London, exhibiting internationally and collaborating with partners in design and fashion to bring his lobster mythology to new contexts and audiences.