Biography

Biography

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A biography of Minneapolis visual artist Roger Williamson.

Roger Williamson’s works belong to a “theatre” of life.

Building upon classical myths and ancient themes the paintings invite the viewers into spheres of consciousness. characterized by ethereal portraits and kaleidoscopic color palettes Williamson’s practice seeks to re-enliven a mystery, revitalizing the senses and questioning reality.

Aesthetica

Born in Loughborough, England, in 1947 and growing up in Coventry he was inspired from an early age by the French Symbolist painters of late nineteenth-century France,

These artistic influences, in conjunction with his esoteric upbringing and practical experiences of mythology and dream control, form the matrix, a collective oeuvre upon which his paintings and writings are an extension.

Using diverse creative media, whether painting or writing books, Williamson endeavors to develop techniques that materialize the sensuous dreaming experience into the language of the waking world.  Aspiring to reintroduce mystery and ambiguity back into the adventure of human existence through the creative process, encouraging artistic audiences towards “living effulgent and invigorating lives, revitalized from the secretions of our subconscious.”

Roger Williamson is the creator of the Tarot of the Morning Star deck and the author of The Sun at Night.

Nobody deserves the ‘outsider’ tag more than Roger Williamson Marchant-Taylor.

Completely self-taught, mysteriously moved in his 40s to take up the brush, gloriously isolated from mainstream curatorial prerogatives–the founder and proprietor of Magus Books and Herbs paints for no one but himself. Even if every other mammal stepped off the planet, he’d almost surely go on doing his Muses’ dirty work. Yet the artist hasn’t a single naive bone in his body. And while (the odd portrait excepted) he strictly depicts images from his own rich inner life,

Williamson, like the universe itself, loathes stasis. Wanderlust is a constant self-transformation figure in every aspect of the UK transplant’s life, from his ongoing exploration of ceremonial magic, shamanism, and a few dozen related disciplines to his nine published books–but they’re the driving forces behind the oils and pastels.

Equally adept at tweaking received themes and representing newly broached regions of his deepest psyche, Williamson defies cookie-cutter assumptions about visionary artists simply by following his heart. Neither prophet nor poet the painter most often finds (and loses) himself playing journalist/spy in some of quantum reality’s diciest opportunity zones, intent on bringing us everything Prometheus didn’t.  

He is the author of The Sun at Night, Labyrinth: Tales of a Rite of Passage, Lucifer’s: A Basic Handbook of Luciferian Sorcery, The Black Book of the Jackal, On The Arrival of the Machine, Calling up the Spirits, Howling at the Sky, Lucifer Diaries and The Tarot of the Morning Star 22 card deck and book – Rod Smith

Roger Williamson Painting Portfolio

Tarot of the Morning Star Major Arcana Portfolio