2024
Richard Combes creates remarkably lifelike oil paintings that explore the relationship between vacant spaces and the solitary people who fleetingly occupy them.
Decaying inner-city building interiors, rain-soaked streets and solemn storefronts are the subjects of choice for the British artist’s award-winning realist work. Combes’s carefully rendered depictions are a love letter to disused spaces that time and the elements have left bedraggled and dilapidated. He has cited Impressionist and Surrealist art as having been influential for him, and his background as an architect provides him with a keen insight into the themes he explores in his work.
Combes was born in Manchester. He graduated from the architecture program at the University of Liverpool and immediately secured work in his field of study. Combes eventually felt dissatisfied with his career choice, as he began to notice that he was more interested in sketching the neglected and largely vacant spaces than finishing his architectural renderings that would form their replacement. Combes made a change — he moved to New York City and earned his MFA at the New York Academy of Art.
Combes was elected as a full member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 2004. His work has earned international acclaim and a lengthy list of prizes and awards. Combes’s paintings have been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, and his work is in the private collections of many celebrities and prominent figures.
On 1stDibs, find original Richard Combes landscape paintings, still-life paintings and other art.
SUNDAY MORNING - Hyperrealist Street Corner / Cobblestones / Red brick / Shadows
By Richard Combes
Located in New York, NY
A British-born, American based painter, Richard Combes focuses his subjects on the forgotten corners of New York City, subway stations, the cobblestone streets with puddles in Tribec...
Canvas, Oil
CENTER POINT - Photorealism / Exposed Red Brick Wall / Contrast
By Richard Combes
Located in New York, NY
A British-born, American based painter, Richard Combes focuses his subjects on the forgotten corners of New York City, subway stations, the cobblestone streets with puddles in Tribec...
Canvas, Oil
DUMBO WALL - Contemporary Realism / City Architecture / Brooklyn / Red
By Richard Combes
Located in New York, NY
A British-born, American based painter, Richard Combes focuses his subjects on the forgotten corners of New York City, subway stations, the cobblestone streets with puddles in Tribec...
Canvas, Oil
BARN WINDOW - Photorealism / Old Red Barn / Weathered Farmhouse / Reflection
By Richard Combes
Located in New York, NY
Quiet Manhattan puddles become networks of color and texture in the new oil paintings by Richard Combes. Timeworn streets make fertile subject matter...
Canvas, Oil
GHOST SIGN ON A WALL - Photorealism / Contemporary Cityscape / Bombay Sapphire
By Richard Combes
Located in New York, NY
Original oil painting by Richard Combes featuring a Bombay Sapphire sign. Richard Combes (b. 1963, Manchester, England) trained as an architect in the...
Canvas, Oil
NIGHT REFLECTION - Realism / New York Cityscape / Dark Scene
By Richard Combes
Located in New York, NY
Original Oil Painting by Richard Combes Richard Combes (b. 1963, Manchester, England) trained as an architect in the UK before moving to New York City. In 1995, he completed his MA ...
Canvas, Oil
Mansard Window, realistic historic urban architecture, Brookyn cityscape, brick
By Gregory Frux
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Mansard Window, Oil on canvas, cityscape Sixth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn Dr. Rowland S. Russell PhD. writes about his experience directly witnessing Greg's practice as a “plein a...
Canvas, Oil
14th Street (Photo-Realist Oil Painting of Classic NYC Brick Building)
By Richard Britell
Located in Hudson, NY
Photo-realist oil painting of a classic brick building exterior in New York City 28 x 50 inches, oil on canvas painting Wire backing for easy hanging Unframed with white painted sides This contemporary, realistic oil painting of a New York City brick building exterior was painted by Richard Britell in 2019. Employing his mastery of the troupe l'oeil technique, Britell paints the smooth red colored stone building in extreme detail assuming a three-dimensional quality with close attention paid to shadow and perspective. This building is reminiscent of neo-classical architecture, popularized in the mid-late 1800's and the striking red exterior contrasts against the white stone window trim, further accentuating the painting's troupe l'oeil qualities. The painting on canvas is complete with wire on reverse for seamless hanging. About the artist: Richard Britell, a career painter, studied at Pratt Institute with Philip Pearlstein and Walter Erlebacher. His first show in NYC at Staempfli Gallery was sold out, and reviewed in the New York Times. Britell’s new works revolve around large, dreamy cityscapes tending toward abstraction. The artist currently lives in Pittsfield, MA. Born Utica, New York, 1944 Education 1962 – 1964 Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY 1964 – 1966 Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY B.F.A. 1970 – 1972 University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, M.F.A. Solo Exhibitions 2011 “Measuring the Universe” Lauren Clark Fine Art, Housatonic, MA 2010 “And Now For Some things Completely Different” Lauren Clark Fine Art, Housatonic, MA 2010 “The Figure, The Figure, The Figure and The Figure” Lauren Clark Fine Art, Housatonic, MA 2009 “A nest of robins in her hair” Lauren Clark Fine Art, Housatonic, MA 2007 “NY, NY” Lauren Clark Fine Art, Housatonic, Ma 2003 “Image and Text” Tokonoma Gallery, Housatonic, MA 1999 “From Architecture to Abstraction” Tokonoma Gallery, Housatonic, MA 1998 “New Work” Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, NY 1998 “New Figures” Ute Stebich Gallery, Lenox, MA 1995 “Richard Britell, New Work” Katharina Rich Perlow Gallery, New York, NY 1993 “New Work on Gilded Panel” Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York, NY 1985 “Fresco Panels...
Linen, Oil, Wood Panel
Rectangles and Bricks
By Marc Yankus
Located in New York, NY
Archival pigment print Signed and numbered, verso 22 x 17 inches, sheet (Edition of 15) 38 x 27 inches, sheet (Edition of 9) From the series, "The Space Between" This photograph i...
Archival Pigment
Six Windows, Myrtle Ave (Photo-Realist Oil Painting of Classic NYC Red Building)
By Richard Britell
Located in Hudson, NY
Photo-realist oil painting of a classic red brick building exterior in New York City Oil on linen mounted on panel in a handmade walnut frame 10 x 27 x 2 inches framed Wire backing ...
Oil, Wood Panel
Many Windows in Chelsea
By Marc Yankus
Located in New York, NY
Archival pigment print Signed and numbered, verso 22 x 17 inches, sheet (Edition of 15) 38 x 27 inches, sheet (Edition of 9) From the series, "The Space Between" This photograph is...
Archival Pigment
New York Windows 1301, Mixed Media on Canvas
By Marilyn Henrion
Located in Yardley, PA
Digitally Manipulated Photography, Pigment Printing On Silk, Hand Stitching, Stretched Canvas. Ready To Hang, no Need For Framing (canvas Edges Are Covered With Silk). :: Mixed Media...
Mixed Media
