Corbin’s manifesto “body equals product” poses the question. Will human beings be manipulated and manufactured like inanimate objects?  Genetic technologies and their ultimate goals, in conjunction with the commercial world’s enthusiasm to market bioengineering, are the foundation of Corbin’s proclamation body equals product. In Corbin’s paradigm body equals product, contemporary figurative sculpture must address the issue of self-definition, our ability to modify our own DNA.  Science fiction has become our reality. Freedoms, procreation, heredity, nature versus nurture, the inherent dignity of human life are issues addressed by his sculpture.

The perspective of history is a major influence on Corbin.  Walking through our collective memories he borrows techniques styles and mysteries suited to his new representation of time and space. In Corbin’s new archetype of man intellect and soul are separated from the body. Armless headless anonymous cores can now be broken down to the smallest units, analyzed, engineered beautified marketed and sold. 

He rebuilds his new articulation of figurative sculpture with iconography of the present embedded in the surface of his sculptures. He calls these miniature time capsules inclusions. Cosmetic bottles, action figures, dolls, feeder fish, are sealed in resin and strategically embedded about the body. These inclusions invite conceptual questions. Will the perfume in the bottles dissipate over time? Is this a symbolic attempt at bioengineering a scented body? Do the embedded feeder fish represent a metaphorical attempt at cross specie engineering?  In Corbin’s revised view of contemporary figurative sculpture individuality and physical essence have changed. The figure becomes a technologically enhanced vessel. The human body is no longer a container for a perfect being, handed down by god but an esthetically enhanced harbinger of a new era.

Revisiting classical cannons of proportion form line composition and color, Corbin seeks to create a palatable kind of “deconstructionism” based on aesthetics.  In combination with the inclusions Corbin uses a multitude of industrial materials, emphasis the intrinsic value and physical properties of each.  The surfaces become fully charged with content primed for multiple interpretations.

Multiple purposes are a recurring motif in Corbin’s work. His sculptures allude to an overriding materialistic theology while addressing a wide range of human emotions and feelings. His work lifts the human spirit while questioning what it is to be human.