{"person":[{"sourceId":{"label":"Source ID","value":"1020"},"lastName":{"label":"Last Name","value":"Robertson"},"endDate":{"label":"Death Date","value":"1997"},"displayName":{"label":"Name","value":"Royal Robertson"},"objects":{"label":"Objects","value":{"objectTitle":"Spaceship","objectNumber":"1998.10.40","objectID":"2534"}},"geographyDied":{"label":"Died","value":["Baldwin",""]},"biography":{"label":"Biography","value":"Royal Robertson created fiery paintings with an evangelistic compulsion that combined apocalyptic warnings with science-fiction tropes. Depictions of spaceships, aliens, laser guns, futuristic architecture, and fantastic monsters are annotated with speech bubbles referencing the Bible, science-fiction books, comics, pornographic magazines, and tabloids. Some of this text details Robertson\u2019s process: \u201cWorked on that drawing on April 5 at 4:15 AM.\u201d Other pieces reveal his keen interest in numerology, with calendars divining cosmic events appearing on the backs of some pieces. He regularly worked on both sides of poster board, creating colorful scenes with markers, ballpoint pens, paint, and a dash of glitter.Robertson considered himself a \u201cprophet,\u201d and his yard confronted visitors with handmade messages of doom and judgment (along with his own creative takes on \u201cno trespassing\u201d signs, such as \u201cKeep Out Here Crazy Bastards Whoremongers\u201d). Inside, he covered the walls and surfaces of his home with art and shrines. Born in 1936, he spent much of his life in Baldwin, Louisiana. He completed eighth grade and then apprenticed as a sign painter. This professional work informed how he recorded the visions of the future and space travel that he began experiencing as a teenager. Some pieces have rounded corners as if seen through a television set. A separation from his wife, Adell, who left with their children for Texas in the 1970s, fueled vitriolic and misogynistic ramblings in his art, along with images of voluptuous temptresses.Self-appointed as the \u201cLibra Patriarch Prophet Lord Archbishop Apostle Visionary Mystic Psychic Saint Royal Robertson,\u201d Robertson and his ever-evolving outdoor environment of signs became a local oddity. In 1992, much of his house and yard was destroyed in Hurricane Andrew. He died in 1997, the same year his art was included in the exhibition <em>The End Is Near: Visions of Apocalypse, Millennium, and Utopia<\/em> at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. The graphic style of his work and his fixation on good and evil as interpreted through pop culture and prophecy continue to captivate; a painting of his was featured on the cover of Sufjan Stevens\u2019s 2010 album <em>The Age of Adz<\/em>.Allison C. Meier, 2025Text written as part of \u201cRethinking Biography,\u201d an initiative supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)."},"geographyActive":{"label":"Active","value":["Baldwin",""]},"geographyBorn":{"label":"Born","value":["Baldwin",""]},"beginDate":{"label":"Birth Date","value":"1936"},"firstName":{"label":"First Name","value":"Royal"},"primaryMedia":{"value":"https://collection.folkartmuseum.org/internal/media/dispatcher/27314/full"},"names":{"label":"Names","value":"Royal Robertson"},"displayDate":{"label":"Date","value":"(1936\u20131997)"},"id":{"label":"Id","value":"151166"}}]}