Donald Roller Wilson

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Donald Roller Wilson is an artist who uses some strange items in his paintings, such as dogs and cats, chimpanzees, dill pickles, wooden matches, olives, asparagus stalks, and even cigarettes. He paints in oils, in a very polished, super-realistic style, using the same techniques used by the Old Masters. He was born in Houston, Texas and is based in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Donald Roller Wilson is a painter who describes his work as a "by-product of his thoughts." According to him, he spends his "days and nights pondering the meaning of life, the state of the universe, and the Home Shopping Network. . . .More than anything, my work deals with pointlessness. It takes all the arrogance out of everything you do when you know that god is so much bigger than you are. And yet everything you are and do and see is filled with god: the grass, the asphalt, and the people fighting over Aqua Net at Wal-Mart. . . .You can make a profound intellectual statement just by basing your efforts on silliness."

Some of the characters he has created include Cookie the Baby Orangutan, Jane the Pug Girl, Jack the Jack Russell “Terror,” Loretta the Actress Cat, Miss Dog America, and Patricia the Seeing Eye Dog of Houston.

He is also well known among celebrities such as Carrie Fisher, Jack Nicholson, Diane Sawyer, Harrison Ford, Paul Simon, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Martin, Kevin Kline, Phoebe Cates, and Robin Williams.

His many works hang in the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York; Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, Illinois; Whitney Museum, New York, New York; Bank of America, San Francisco, California; Coe Kerr Gallery, New York City; and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

Also, notably, he was Frank Zappa's visual coordinator during the 1980s and 1990s.

Taught at the University of Arkansas, he lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas with his wife Kathleen, also an artist. His main gallery has been Meyer Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico,

Donald Roller Wilson Exhibition History

Born: Houston, TX 10:55 a.m., November 23, 1938

Education: M.F.A., Wichita State University, Wichita, KS B.A., Wichita State University, Wichita, KS

Teaching: 1967-74 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, Asst. Professor 1966-67 Nebraska State College, Peru, NE, Asst. Professor

Selected Solo Exhibitions:

2002 - A Strong Night Wind, Organized and toured by the Louisiana Arts and Science Center, Baton Rouge, LA; toured to: Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR; West Valley Art Museum, Surprise, AZ (catalogue) 2000 The Children…Hanging Around Brenda’s Nut Farm, Usually Under the Front Porch, but Venturing Out During the Days (And Nights) trying to Make Their Ways in Life, Meyer Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 1999 Meyer Gallery, Santa Fe, NM Donald Roller Wilson – Major Works, Wright Galleries, New York, NY 1998 Meyer Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ Cookie at Sixteen, Baby Cookie, Jane, Richard, Madonna Ann, Naughty Betty and Brenda: Days and Nights at Brenda’s Nut Farm John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA Donald Roller Wilson: One Man Show, Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS Donald Roller Wilson-One Man Show, Wright Galleries, New York, NY 1997 Donald Roller Wilson: Paintings, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA 1996 Brides, Queens and Other Girls Gone Wrong Wright Gallery, New York, NY 1995 Watercolor Drawings: Donald Roller Wilson, Wright Gallery, Palm Beach, FL A Strong Night Wind, Bank of Fayetteville, Fayetteville, AR Horwitch LewAllen Gallery, Santa Fe, NM Jimmy Returns to Manhattan, Wright Gallery, New York, NY 1994 Donald Roller Wilson, Wright Gallery, Palm Beach, FL 1993 Days-Nights-Events: Donald Roller Wilson, Lewallen Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 1992 Looking For The Virgin in the Woods (catalogue), John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA Donald Roller Wilson, Fleck-Ellman Gallery, Aspen, CO Donald Roller Wilson: Looking For Tony, Lewallen Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 1991 Inside & Outside the House, Coe Kerr Gallery, NY 1989 Miss Dog America (catalogue) Coe Kerr Gallery, NY Donald Roller Wilson, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA The Paintings of Donald Roller Wilson, The Oklahoma Arts Center, Norman, OK Donald Roller Wilson, The Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL Roller: The Paintings of Donald Roller Wilson, University of Texas, Austin, TX 1988 Collections on the Cutting Edge: The Frito-Lay Corporation Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, TX Donald Roller Wilson, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR Roller: The Paintings of Donald Roller Wilson, Organized and toured by Mid-America Art Alliance, Kansas City, MO; traveled to: Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR; The Fine Art Center, Nashville, TN; Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, OK; Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL; Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX Jan Turner Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 1987 Donald Roller Wilson (catalogue), Coe Kerr Gallery, New York, NY 1986 Donald Roller Wilson, Moody Gallery, Houston, TX 1985 Donald Roller Wilson, Moody Gallery, Houston, TX Donald Roller Wilson, Holly Solomon Gallery, New York, NY 1984 Visitors to Mrs. Jenkin’s Room, Holly Solomon Gallery, New York, NY 1982 Donald Roller Wilson, Fendrick Gallery, Washington, DC Donald Roller Wilson, Virginia Miller Galleries, Coral Gables, FL 1981 Donald Roller Wilson, Moody Gallery, Houston, TX Donald Roller Wilson, Marilyn Butler Fine Art, Scottsdale, AZ 1979 Donald Roller Wilson (catalogue), University of Fine Arts Gallery, Florida State Donald Roller Wilson, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR (lecture and slide presentation) 1978 Donald Roller Wilson, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND (lecture and presentation of work) Donald Roller Wilson (catalogue), John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1977 Donald Roller Wilson (catalogue), Moody Gallery, Houston, TX 1976 Donald Roller Wilson, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK (lecture and presentation of work) Donald Roller Wilson, Phillips University, Enid, OK (lecture and presentation of work) 1975 Gladys Atlas: Donald Roller Wilson (catalogue), Findlay Gallery New York, NY 1974 The Paintings of Donald Roller Wilson (catalogue), La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA 1973 Donald Roller Wilson, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, Houston, TX 1972 The Paintings of Donald Roller Wilson, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA (lecture and presentation of work) 1970 Donald Roller Wilson, David Gallery, Houston, TX Donald Roller Wilson, Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Art, Kansas City, MO Donald Roller Wilson, Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, MO Donald Roller Wilson, The City Arts Museum of St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 1969 Donald Roller Wilson, Sheldon Memorial Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE Donald Roller Wilson, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX 1966 Donald Roller Wilson, Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS Donald Roller Wilson, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS

Selected Group Exhibitions:

2001 Who Let the Dogs Out, (Group Show) Phoenix Airport, Art Outreach Program, Phoenix, AZ 2000 Group Show, John Bergrggruen at New York Armory, New York, NY 20 Years: Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition (Group Show) Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN The Changing Face of Portraiture (Group Show: 7 Paintings), Guggenheim Gallery, Chapman University, Orange, CA 1999 The Persis Collection of Contemporary Art (Group Show), The Contemporary Art Museum of Hawaii, The New Religion (Group Exhibition), Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA 1998 Gallery Sections 1998 (Group Show), Cincinnati Art Galleries, Cincinnati, OH 1997 Small Packages 3, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN 1996 Poetry in Drawing, 1996-1998 Artmobile Exhibition, The Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR Wright Gallery, Southampton, New York, NY 1995 XXV Years, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA The Gate of the Present, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL 1994 Flowers, Babcock Galleries, New York, NY Wildlife, California Center for the Arts, Escondido, CA 1993 Small Indulgences, Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN Artrageous, Cumberland Art Gallery, Cumberland, TN 1992 The Dog Show, Levinson/Kane Gallery Boston, MA Preternatural Worlds, Metropolitan State College of Denver, Denver, CO 1991 American Contemporary Realism, Fleck-Ellman Gallery, Aspen, CO Art and the Law, 17th Annual, organized by the West Publishing Company, Traveled to: BankAmerica Security Pacific Gallery, San Francisco, CO; Art Space Inc., Raleigh NC: University of Puget Sound School of Law, Tacoma, WA 1990 The National Invitational Drawing Exhibition, Nebraska State College, Chadron; Missouri State College, Warrensburg, MO; Kendall Colleg of Arts and Design, Grand Rapids, MI; Albrecht Art Museum, St. Louis, MO; Baylor University, Waco, TX; Adams State College, Alamosa, CO; University Gallery, West Bend University, WI. 1989 The 41st Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Paintings (catalogue), The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA; Norton Gallery and School of Art, West Palm Beach, FL The Nature of the Beast (catalogue), The Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY. Contemporary American Realism, Coe Kerr Gallery, New York NY Feather, Fur and Fin, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, TX 1988 Arf Art, Trabia-MacAfee Gallery, New York, NY Salute to Chicago: Art in America, Coe Kerr Gallery, New York, NY Oxymorons in Art, Schmidt-Bingham Gallery, New York. NY Westchester Collection, Oklahoma Art Center, Norman, OK 1987 Nocturnes and Nightmares, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL Text and Image: The Wording of American Art, Coe Kerr Gallery, New York, NY 1986 Neighbors, University of Texas, Austin, TX (invitational exhibition) Selected Acquisitions, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1985 A Decade of American Realism: 1975-85 (catalogue), Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS Still Life: Life that is Still, Sherry French Gallery, New York, NY 10 Year University Exhibition, Moody Gallery, Houston, TX Printmaker and Their Presses, Houston, Public Library, Houston, TX 1984 About Face, (traveled) Art Museum of South Texas, Cropus Christi, TX; Nave Museum, Victoria, TX; Texas Tech University Art Museum, Lubbock, TX 1983 American Still Life 1945-1983, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX; Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH; Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY; Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR Realism 1983, Southeast Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC Creatures in Print, Weil Gallery, Corpus Christi State University, Corpus Christi, TX Inaugural Exhibition (57th Street), Holly Solomon Gallery, New York, NY Contemporary Allegory Show, Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA Inaugural Exhibition, Sherry French Gallery, New York, NY 1982 The Human Figure in Contemporary Art (catalogue), Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA 1981 The Image of the House in Contemporary Art (catalogue), Lawndale Annes, University of Houston, TX An Invitational Exhibition of Monumental Art by Southern Artists, Memphis State University, Memphis, TN Moody Gallery Exhibition, Linda Durham Gallery, Santa Fe, NM Self Portraits, Fendrick Gallery Washington, DC The Institute of Contemporary Art Exhibition, University of Virginia Museum, Richmond, VA American Painting, Colorado Institute of Art, Denver, CO 1980 Visions (catalogue), Mid-America Arts Alliance organized by Springfield Art Museum, Missouri (traveled) Menagerie, Taft Museum, Cincinnati, OH Animals, Marilyn Butler Fine Art, Scottsdale, AZ 1979 Art for the Collector, Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, MO 1978 Third Biennial Invitational Exhibition, Beaumont Art Museum, Beaumont, TX Invitational Painting Exhibition, Art Center College of Design, San Francisco, CA 1977 American Paintings and Drawings, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA Little Egypt Enterprises, Moody Gallery, Houston, TX Recent Acquisitions; THE MAN HAS LEFT THE MOON TONIGHT, HE TRAINS SOME BEAMS UPON THE FACE OF GLADYS ATLAS IN THESE WOODS; HEADS OF CABBAGES—(HEADS OF STATE); Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC A View of a Decade, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL Six Painters/Southwest, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK Downtown Dog Show, Museum of Fine Art, San Francisco, CA 1976 65th Annual Exhibition of American Painting, Randolph-Macon Women’s College, Lynchburg, VA 1975 Biennial of Contemporary American Art, New York, NY 1974 Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, MO Donald Roller Wilson and Bruce Monical, Ars Longa Galleries, Houston, TX 1973 Inaugural Exhibition, Ars Longa Galleries, Houston, TX 1972 14th Annual Invitational Painting Exhibition, Junior Service League, Longview, TX Faculty Exhibition, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 1965 18th Annual Missouri Valley Exhibition of Oil Paintings, Mulvane Art Center, Washburn University, Topeka, KS Fifth National Drawings and Prints Exhibition, Olivet College, Olivet, MO 11th Kansas Artists Annual, Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS Faculty Art Exhibition, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS 32nd National Graphics Art and Drawing Exhibition, Wichita Art Association, Wichita, KS 15th Mid-America Annual Exhibition, Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO California Society of Etchers National Print Exhibition, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA 1964 14th Mid-America Annual Exhibition, Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO Sixth Annual Exhibition of Southwest American Art, Oklahoma City Art Center, Oklahoma City 34th Annual Exhibition, Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, MO 1963 Fifth Annual Exhibition of Southwest American Art, Oklahoma City Art Center, Oklahoma City 1959 Annual Competitive Art Student Show, Kansas State Teachers College, Emporia, KS 1957 Air Capitol Exhibition, Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS

[edit] External links

• Roller's official site