Roger Brown is one of the most celebrated of the Chicago Imagists. Born in Alabama, he maintained a lifelong affinity not only for the South, but for the outsider and folk art he encountered in his youth. In 1962, he moved to Chicago, and in the following years alternated study at the American Art Academy and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), receiving a BFA and MFA from the SAIC in 1968 and 1970. He had his first solo show at Phyllis Kind Gallery in Chicago in 1971 and quickly achieved national critical acclaim. He was associated with other artists of the Chicago area, who became dubbed the “Chicago Imagists” artists, whose work was characterized by sometimes rough, expressive stylization, the incorporation of pop culture images and aesthetics, and an interest in contemporary social and political issues. Brown was also a participant in the famous “The Hairy Who” exhibition. He maintained his lifelong passion for outsider art, amassing a significant collection and inspiring much of the contemporary interest in folk art.
Painter of a Bird's Eye View, with its considerable scale, compelling patterning, and cartoon or comic-like figures, is highly representative of the artist’s style and subject matter. In the foreground, at the bottom right of the painting, an artist stands at his easel, creating the scene before him.