William Thompson, Visionary Artist

William Thompson lives in a castle in Spartanburg. He likes living in a castle. This is the second one he has lived in. But what really makes him unique are the fantastic paintings he creates. He was a business man who had never painted in his life. But he came down with a terrible nerve-related disease...he could barely walk and his hands were so crippled that he could hardly hold a spoon. He was in Hawaii recuperating from the disease when God spoke to him and told him to paint. It was such a clear message, he went right out and bought canvases, paints and brushes. And he began painting as God had instructed him to do. He said the first paintings were so ugly he thought he had misunderstood what God had said. So he prayed for God to speak to him again...and God said, "Yes, Thomas. I want you to paint." So he went back to painting. One of the first paintings he did when he got back home was a 300 foot painting (yes...you got that right...a painting as long as a football field!) depicting the entire Book of Revelations. It was so big it had to be worked like a scroll. When the American Visionary Art Museum was doing a year-long exhibit called "The End Is Near", they selected his painting to be displayed. It was draped from the ceiling. They had Army ambulance stretchers on the floor...you would get down on the stretcher and use a pair of binoculars to view the painting. This one painting put him on the art map...at least in the world of Outsider Art. Although it's difficult to find places that can display a 300 foot painting, his work has been shown throughout Europe and also here in the United States. Right now he has been commissioned to do 7 paintings for the American Visionary Art Museum on "creation"...the first seven days from Genesis. These will be put on permanent display at AVAM beginning in October. Just recently, two art books on Thompson's work have been published...available I'm sure through Amazon.com.