Richard Gombar
A native of New Jersey, Richard has been drawn over time to the beauty of the Vermont landscape, eventually moving here a few years ago. He is a graduate of the Pratt Institute of Art and is a noted teacher and lecturer.
"I describe myself as an American painter of my environment. My world, my artistic world, is what I can see; what is in front of me, outside my doors, through the studio window or what I see on my travels. Whether this is a rural landscape, a barn, the varied weather and clouds or the same subject at different times of year or under different light, I take these subjects, everyday places, isolate them, enhance them and present them as paintings.
"I use what for many are mundane places and create drama and individuality that may make people see them for the first time. My work takes the viewer out of their normal context, their quotidian life, and presents back to them that which they have never seen before, or something that they see everyday and I make it special for them. I paint simple interpretations of real places that capture and hold the attention and imagination.
"My ultimate purpose is a search for truth within the painting. I consider myself a romantic minimalist painting realistically within abstract parameters, creating expressive impressions that carry weight, purpose and a sense of specific place.
"I make the real more real, the ephemeral more solid, freeze the fleeting moment in time, creating a visual diary, making the moment an eternity."
Gombar's work appears in numerous private and corporate collections throughout the country. He lives in White River, Vermont with his wife and daughter.