Apocalyptic Messenger

Here’s the full version of a Raw Vision #104 magazine article by Michael Bonesteel published in 2020 on a new series of monumental paintings full of biting commentary on contemporary culture: William Thompson Raw Vision-2020-Issue-104

William Thomas Thompson and his wife Janette live on the second floor of the Gassaway Mansion in Greenville, South Carolina. The Thompson family business makes the first floor and grounds available for an events business. A fairy tale castle location for a wedding reception – complete with an apocalyptic painter’s studio up in the turret!  Although Mr. Thompson’s work spans a wide range of subjects and can be pleasingly pastoral, he is best best known for religious-themed canvas’ that bring a biblical urgency into contemporary times. He produced a 300 ft Revelation painting that has been exhibited three times in distant locations, and has a 1800 square foot Seven Days of Creation painting on permanent display at the American Visionary Art Museum.  A nerve condition makes Mr. Thompson’s painter’s hands unsteady, but his energetic gestural marks reinforce the biblically proportioned messages.

Below the studio on the third floor, Mr. Thompson stores his paintings in what was the mansion’s ballroom.  An adjacent building to the mansion houses Mr. Thompson’s collection of work by a number of artists he admires. He speaks very highly of many other artist’s work, and did a series of collaborative paintings with Norbert H. Kox – combining Kox’s more detailed and controlled style with Mr. Thompson’s expressive urgency. 

A ‘visionary’ artist, Mr. Thompson’s primary motivation comes from the message – he’s reluctant to think of himself himself as an accomplished painter, and he doesn’t believe in limiting the potential spread of his message by copyrighting his work.

Mr. Thompson’s painted a starry cosmos on the walls and ceiling of his third floor office. From his desk he maintains a personal website – sending the admonitions expressed through his work out into the full vast universe of creation!

2023 update:  Mr. Thompson has moved to a veterans care facility about an hour from Greenville where he has turned his room into a small version of his old studio.  New paintings and reproductions of his enormous paintings in the Raw Vision magazine article (linked at the top of the page) fill the walls along with family photographs and memorabilia.  Photos from 2025:

See also:

• Norbert Kox: Apocalypse House & Museum of Visionary Art
• News & Events: William Thomas Thompson Exhibition

External resources:

• WT Thompson website
• WT Thompson and Norbert Kox collaborations
• WT Thompson in Raw Vision magazine
• Article: The Colorful Apocalypse