Richard Combes was born in Manchester, England and studied architecture at the University of Liverpool. He worked as an architect in the U.K. before moving to New York to earn his master's degree in painting at the New York Academy of Art.

Whilst New York remains his primary base, Combes divides his time between the U.S. and the U.K

Through his meticulous rendering of detail and dramatic use of perspective and colour, Combes explores the relationship between architecture and the human form, transforming everyday objects and situations into extraordinary images that are absorbing and often haunting.

Combes was elected a full member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 2004. His work has been exhibited internationally at the National Portrait Gallery and the Mail Galleries in London, among others. He also has numerous works in private collections, including those of Barbara Streisand, John Major, Jeffrey Epstein and Sir Andrew Buchanan, Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire