Born in Georgia. A real Southern gent.
I stumbled across Richard T. Scott a couple years ago, and I have been following him ever since. Not only is his work skillful, thought-provoking, and beautiful, but the artist himself is fascinating, witty, and intelligent. His vocabulary is Aristotelian, he references the greats of art history and is familiar with philosophy (in fact he is an “amateur”–in the sense of lover of something–Aesthetic Philosopher).
This is an hour long spotlight interview with Richard T. Scott. I highly recommend watching this documentary; it will give you hope, it will inspire you if you are an artist yourself. He gives insights into the contemporary art market and where art is going. He tells his story and gives his viewpoint, which I find to be on the traditional side, but without being snobby, stuffy, or ideological.
https://www.innomind.org/richard-t-scott-artist-spotlight-new-york-2013/
Also check out his website and follow him on Facebook. He enjoys stirring up debate through incendiary remarks (sometimes he will simply post two paintings of the same thing by master artists and ask which is better and why) .
