Donald Roller Wilson

(American, born 1938)

Donald Roller Wilson is an American artist known for his comical take on realistic painting. With his depictions of imagined scenes that include chimpanzees, dogs, and cats dressed in elaborate costumes, he has created a Surrealist alternate reality that has earned the artist a large following. Wilson notably paints in with traditional techniques—not unlike contemporary artist and illustrator Mark Ryden—based in the smoothly applied realism of Old Master Dutch and Flemish painting from the 16th century. Describing himself as a “Gothic storyteller,” his sardonic imagery features recurring characters with names like “Loretta the Actress Cat,” and are usually framed in ornate gold. Born on November 23, 1938 in Houston, TX, Wilson studied at Wichita State University and taught at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Today, his works can be found in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Chicago Art Institute, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., among others. Wilson lives and works in Fayetteville, AK.