Richard Gombar grew up in Bridgeport, Connecticut, surrounded by factories and industrial life. Yet, even amid that mechanical environment, he found beauty in unexpected places, the glow of sunlight on buildings and the quiet calm of nature. From an early age, he began to draw, finding solace and purpose in capturing the world around him. His goal was always clear: to become a painter.
As a teenager, Gombar studied under the accomplished portrait artist Frank Covino, whose mentorship profoundly shaped his path. Covino recognized his talent and encouraged him to apply to his alma mater, the prestigious Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Gombar took his advice, earning a BFA in painting and drawing. The experience at Pratt provided him not only with a strong foundation in classical techniques but also with exposure to the creative energy of New York City, where art was as much about feeling as it was about form.
After graduation, Gombar continued to immerse himself in the art world, working in New York City and eventually taking a position at the Guggenheim Museum as Exhibitions Manager for Construction. This experience gave him a unique perspective on the intersection of art, architecture, space, and how each element interacts to shape human perception. But while the city offered excitement and opportunity, Gombar longed for a closer connection to the natural world.
From the City to the Countryside
That desire led him north, to the rolling landscapes of Vermont. Here, surrounded by the changing weather and the rhythm of the seasons, Gombar found the environment that would come to define his artistic vision. The moods of the Northeast, its fleeting light, its quiet melancholy, and its constant transformation became his muse.
Living in Vermont, Gombar paints to evoke emotion and connection, striving to draw the viewer deeper into his work. His canvases are not mere representations of scenery; they are immersive experiences that capture the essence of nature and the feeling of belonging within it. Each brushstroke reflects a moment of observation transformed into memory, a fleeting glimpse of light preserved in color.
Capturing the Ephemeral
At the heart of Gombar’s artistic philosophy is a deep reverence for nature and the act of seeing. He describes himself as a painter of the natural world, capturing beauty to hold forever a passing moment. His goal is to preserve what is often overlooked to memorialize a brief play of light, a shift in the sky, or the stillness that precedes change.
Yet Gombar’s work avoids nostalgia or sentimentality. His approach is grounded in honesty and clarity. He searches for truth without sentimentality, and this pursuit of truth gives his paintings a quiet integrity. Through the interplay of color and light, he explores how vastness can become intimate, how a sweeping landscape can reflect a deeply personal emotion.
His mastery lies in his ability to balance the immense with the intimate. The grand scenes he paints, mountains, meadows, skies, are distilled into emotional experiences, inviting viewers to slow down and rediscover the beauty in what is often transient.
Breaking Light (2024): A Moment of Revelation
One of Gombar’s recent works, Breaking Light (2024), exemplifies his artistic intent. The painting captures the delicate, fleeting instant when light breaks through clouds or mist, illuminating the world below. In this moment of transition, Gombar finds poetry in the tension between shadow and radiance, stillness and awakening.
The work feels alive with movement, yet grounded in calm. Layers of subtle color shift and merge, suggesting the changing atmosphere of dawn or the quiet aftermath of a storm. It is a study of impermanence and renewal, a visual meditation on the way light transforms both landscape and perception.
Through Breaking Light, Gombar demonstrates not only his technical skill but his emotional insight. The painting invites viewers to experience the same quiet wonder that nature offers him, a reminder that beauty often arrives in brief, unguarded moments.
The Intimacy of the Infinite
Richard Gombar’s art is a dialogue between the infinite and the intimate. He invites viewers to pause, to breathe, and to engage with the subtle shifts of the natural world. His paintings are not simply depictions of landscape; they are expressions of belonging, stillness, and truth.
In his work, light becomes a metaphor for awareness. Each painting is both a reflection and a revelation, transforming ordinary scenes into spaces of contemplation. Gombar’s landscapes remind us that art can be both personal and universal, that a moment in nature can carry the weight of emotion and memory.
His work is about color, light, and the act of painting, all to make the immense intimate.
Through this vision, Richard Gombar continues to honor the beauty of the fleeting moment, turning the ever-changing world into something timeless.
