Beginnings -- Post-war San Francisco -- In pursuit of the marvelous -- Valley of the dots: the early years at UC Davis -- The phantasmagoric artist -- Framing the journey: sculpture and late work.
Summary:
"Roy De Forest's brightly colored, crazy-quilted jungles dotted with nipples of paint and inhabited by a cast of characters uniquely his own (a perennial favorite being his wild-eyed, pointy-eared dogs) appeal to a broad spectrum of viewers from young to old, from the casual visitor to the most sophisticated art aficionado. OMCA's project aims to reassess De Forest's art-historical position, placing him in a national rather than solely regional/West Coast context. Landauer positions De Forest as part of a bicoastal alternative current of American art that has been poorly documented and deliberately ran counter to better publicized tendencies of the 1960s and 1970s, notably Pop, Minimalism, and post-painterly abstraction. Despite the playfulness of his work, close study of De Forest's art reveals deep layers of meaning. He was a fan of popular science fiction and adventure stories, but he was also well versed in Australian aboriginal art, ukiyo-e prints, poetry, literature, and the history of philosophy. He enjoyed secreting obscure art-historical references into his work: animals might assume postures found in Medieval or Renaissance art, or a drawing that appears to depict a comic-book character may in fact refer to Titian's triple-headed allegory of Prudence. This engaging publication presents gorgeous color reproductions of 150 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."--Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.