Bio

Royal Robertson (1936-1997) covered every inch of his Baldwin, Louisiana home and yard with hand-made signs and apocalyptic paintings. Visitors of this self-proclaimed prophet were greeted with large, weather-beaten signs warning “NO DIVORCE WHORE'S ALLOWED” (sic) and “ALL CRAZY PERSONS KEEP OFF LOT” before entering his home.

Once inside, shrines to his both beloved and despised ex-wife, Adell, came into focus amid poster board renderings of future cities, space autos, couples engaged in sex, and detailed calendars chronicling his daily woes. Referencing sources as disparate as the Bible, science fiction magazines, pornography, and cheap tabloid newspapers, his work manages to graphically illustrate the daily concerns that occupied his mind, both real and imagined.

CV

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2024

Healing Machine, SHRINE, Los Angeles, CA

2023

Death of an Outsider, SHRINE, Los Angeles, CA

2019

The Doors of Perception, Curated by Javier Téllez in collaboration with the Outsider Art Fair, Frieze, New York, NY

2018

The Exodus, SHRINE, New York, NY

2017

Known/Unknown: Private Obsession and Hidden Desire in Outsider Art, Museum of Sex, New York, NY

2015

System and Vision, David Zwirner Gallery, New York, NY

2014

Royal Robertson, Rizomi Art Brut, Turin, IT

2011

Prophet Royal Robertson: NO PROUD BASTARDS, White Columns Gallery, New York, NY

2010

The Museum of Everything, Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Turin, IT

1997

The End Is Near: Visions of Apocalypse, Millenium, and Utopia, American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, MD

COLLECTIONS

African American Museum, Dallas, TX

American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY

Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, TX

Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham , AL

High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA

Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans, LA

Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MI

Museum of Everything, London, UK

New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA

Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL

Smithsonian Museum Of American Art, Washington, DC

St. Jame Place Folk Art Museum, Robersonville, NC