Of Dogs and Other People: The Art of Roy De ForestRoy De Forest’s brightly hued, crazy-quilted paintings and sculptures are dotted with nipples of color and inhabited by a cast of characters uniquely his own, a perennial favorite being his instantly recognizable, wild-eyed and pointy-eared dogs. Published in conjunction with a retrospective exhibition of the American painter’s fifty-year career, Of Dogs and Other People reassesses De Forest’s art-historical position, placing him in a national rather than solely West Coast context. Despite the playfulness of his work, close study of De Forest’s art reveals deep layers of meaning. He was a fan of adventure stories, pulp fiction, and underground commix, but he also commanded a vast knowledge of art history and read widely in a variety of disciplines, including poetry, literature, philosophy, psychology, science, and mathematics. He enjoyed secreting obscure art-historical references into his work: animals assume postures found in Medieval or Renaissance art, and his compositional strategies draw from sources ranging from the romantic landscape painters of the Hudson River School to the austere geometric abstractions of Piet Mondrian. This engaging publication presents gorgeous color reproductions of De Forest’s finest artworks, plus a variety of figure illustrations that illuminate the artist’s diverse sources and freewheeling social and creative milieu in Northern California. Published in association with the Oakland Museum of California. Exhibition dates: Oakland Museum of California: April 29–August 20, 2017 |
Common terms and phrases
Abstract Expressionism Acrylic on canvas American Art April Archives of American Artforum ARTnews Artweek Bailey Bay Area Brian Gross Canine CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX color Courtesy Estate Crocker Art Museum CSFA David Zack Deborah Butterfield Dilexi Gallery dots drawings early Estate of Roy family promised gift Fitz Gibbon Forest family promised Forest's paintings FRAMING THE JOURNEY gift to AAA gift to Archives Gilhooly Hassel Smith Interview by Matteson LATE WORK CHAPTER Lecture by Roy Marchant media on paper Mixed media Modern Art Museum of Art Museum of California Museum of Modern Nut Art Oakland Museum Oil on canvas Painters Peeples-Bright PHANTASMAGORIC ARTIST Polymer on canvas Port Costa Private collection Quoted Robert Arneson Roy De Forest Sacramento San Francisco Chronicle San Francisco Museum Schade SCULPTURE AND LATE September Shrem Smithsonian Institution Solo exhibition Tom Swift UC Davis University of California Untitled visual Washington Yakima Valley York Zack