Donald Roller Wilson

Who is Donald Roller Wilson?

Donald Roller Wilson is an American artist who uses some unique 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 very polished realism using the same techniques of the Old Masters.

He was born in Houston, Texas and is based in Fayetteville, Arkansas. According to the New York Times, "Donald Roller Wilson's goofy, hallucinogenic, Old Master-style painting of monkeys, dogs and cats dressed up in antique costumes may be kitsch, but it's high-quality kitsch, like good beach reading."

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 was educated at Wichita State University.

Some of his works can be seen in the Brooklyn Museum; Chicago Art Institute; Whitney Museum; Bank of America in San Francisco, California; Coe Kerr Gallery, New York City; and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, as well as many other galleries. The majority of his work is in the hands of private collectors.