I talked to Richard Franklin at the Columbus Arts Festival 2023.

Are you full time or is this your side hustle?

I do this full time. I run from show to show in an RV (Recreational vehicle). I will take a break in between to replenish stock.

Tell me about your art journey.

I started when I was five. I found that my work looked exactly like the teacher’s. By the time I got to the seventh grade, I decided I was going to do it professionally. I sold my first piece in high school. Once I did that, I thought, “This could work”. I went to college and studied at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. I also have a master’s degree. From there, I taught for many years. I taught at the High Museum in Atlanta as an artist of residence. I taught for many public and private schools. I also ran my own art studio for many years. In 2018, when COVID started to hit, we sold everything, bought an RV and we have been on the road ever since.

Do you have a certain theme? Medium?

My medium has to be acrylic and it has to be on canvas or board. I do that out of necessity. If I did oils in an RV, the smell is too intoxicating. It also wouldn’t dry soon enough. The style is expressive realism for the most part; but, I do dabble a little bit in pop art. Expressive realism is the same style done by Thomas Hart Benton or Ernie Barnes and of course, Richard Franklin.

Is there anything that I didn’t ask you that you think I should have asked you? If so, go ahead and answer that question.

I try to style the work to make you smile. I want you to come in and feel good about what you are seeing. When I started this series, there was a lot of stuff going on in the world and country with people being killed by the police, Covid, etc. It was a really depressing time. It started to affect me. I didn’t want to have that weight on my shoulders. I said, “This is what people need. We need something a little more uplifting, a little more fun and a lot more positive. “It would be fun to give people something to look at from their past that we can all draw upon.” I thought from a nostalgia standpoint. With that, I created this whole series in order to make you smile.