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Prophet Royal Robertson.
The Eternal Dios. c. 1980's .
Double-sided. Signed and titled.
Marker and ink on poster.
Original holes from hanging, otherwise excellent condition.
22" w x 14" h.
Born on October 20, 1930, in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, Robertson spent the majority of his life in Baldwin, Louisiana. After completing eighth grade, he apprenticed as a sign painter and later traveled to the West Coast, working as a field hand and sign painter. Returning to Louisiana in the 1950s to care for his mother, he continued his work as a sign painter.
In 1955, Robertson married Adell Bren (or Lockett), and the couple had eleven children. However, their marriage ended after 19 years when Adell left for another man, moved to Texas with their children, and became a minister.
Following the separation, Robertson remained in Louisiana, becoming a recluse and facing disdain from his neighbors. He harbored misogynistic feelings towards his ex-wife and women in general. Robertson, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, claimed to have had his first vision at the age of fourteen—a futuristic vision of a spaceship with God as the driver. After his marriage ended, he began recording his visions in art and writings.
His hallucinatory visions often depicted space travel, with aliens predicting the End of Days through numerological formulas. Robertson believed in a global female conspiracy, attributing cataclysmic destruction to his ex-wife's betrayal. He saw his art as divinely sanctioned and considered himself a patriarch in search of a new Zion—a prophet with an apocryphal legacy. Self-identifying as "Libra Patriarch Prophet Lord Archbishop Apostle Visionary Mystic Psychic Saint Royal Robertson," he worked on various materials using magic markers, paint, pencils, and glitter.
Influenced by the Bible, girlie magazines, comic strips, and science fiction, his works featured numerology and biblical prophecies. Themes included aliens, spaceships, Bible verses, fire-breathing monsters, snakes, futuristic architectural drawings, superheroes, and portraits of Adell, often associated with Jezebel and other Amazon-like "harlots." His colorful drawings incorporated judgmental texts about "adulterous whores" and unfaithful spouses, sometimes presented in comic book-style speech balloons. Robertson frequently referenced painful moments from his life, particularly his wife's infidelity, in calendars chronicling memories of his marriage. His art often portrayed the artist confronting the forces of evil, and when signing pieces, he added "Prophet" or "Patriarch" to his name.
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