Q: Mr. Richmond Futch Jr., I’m very thankful for the opportunity to share with our readers, who you are and about the “Good News”that inspires your work.
A: Alright, know that I am honored to do this. Let me start by saying that I’m someone who is amazed that I found out that God is real. I have wondered how it happened, how Icame through to this place in my life. I mean as a young boy, learned a lot of things out in the streets. I went through many changes with not having any real direction, no father, and no real home life. Later onI managed to acquire a good job and everything, but I just wasn’t happy with my life. It wasn’t until 1993, that I had my first encounter with God. One night and He told me, “Give me your life.” I took that very seriously and the next day I went to a church with my friend. In that service,the preacher literally preached my life. Afterwards, I had to know, so I asked him, “How do you know so much about me?” I was speaking to Bishop Harris, and he said that itwasn’t him speaking to me, and that it was the Holy Spirit.
Q: How did that impact your life?
A: Well, it placed my feet on this path. I started following the Holy Spirit and learning more about who the Holy Spirit is and who God was. I choose to continue on this journey, with the Holy Spirit, it has taken me to my first love, and that is the art of painting.
Q: Okay! So it is through your painting, that you are Artistically Revealing The Spirit? Thereby revealing the acronym for ARTS?
A: Yes! It is My Reveal, of the spirit that’s in me, mine happens to be the visual. I just love it, and that’s just who I am, and how I reveal what the spirit is showing me. I receive a lot of images. I paint or draw what I see, and somehow, it just happens to be something that someone needs. It happens to be something that stirs up emotions insomeone. I have witnessed people’s lives changing after looking at my paintings, questioning and wanting to know more, and confirming to me that this is what God told them, possibly not recognizing that it was God all along,but once they saw the painting they start verbalizing certain things that was already in them. I am a firm believer that this is one way that God
utilizes the visual arts and Ibelieve that many of us, have what I call the BezaleelSpirit.
Bezaleel was an artisan who built the tabernacle of Moses. Moses went to Bezaleel, and said “Build this tabernacle for God.” You see, Moses had the vision and Bezaleel, had the gift of understanding how to build and bring that vision to life. God filled him with the Holy Spirit to do what he called him to do. Read Exodus 31:1-5 I’m a firm believer in, “Purpose Determines Position.”Everyone’s purpose is important. It’s just that you are put into a certain position to carry out and advance the Kingdom of God. I believe that I’m just one of many that God has chosen to advance His Kingdom through visual images.
Q: How long have you been sharing your gift in this manner?
A: Well let me say, that I was always drawn to worship,but it was in 2005, when I began to be filled with the spirit to express in a way that I had never painted before. I didn’t understand it, I just started painting what I envisioned, painting what I was feeling from within. I realized, that when I was painting, I felt so very close to God.
