Roy De Forest: Civic Art Collection Focus
Curator, San Francsico Arts Commission Galleries: Main Gallery. May – August 2017
Civic Art Collection Focus: Roy De Forest inaugurates an ongoing series that highlights significant works from the San Francisco Civic Art Collection. This presentation celebrates De Forest’s singular contributions to the Bay Area art scene, where he emerges as a central figure in the Northern California Funk and Nut Art movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Known for a playful, irreverent approach, De Forest combines humor, fantasy, and eccentric personal symbolism to create works that resist convention while remaining deeply rooted in the cultural character of the region.
De Forest describes his practice as a pursuit of art that builds “a miniature world into which the nut could retire with all his friends, and animals and paraphernalia.” His paintings and drawings brim with vibrant imagery, often populated by whimsical figures and fantastical creatures that blur the line between narrative and dreamscape. By positioning the artist within the context of the Civic Art Collection, this exhibition underscores both the enduring influence of his vision and the city’s commitment to preserving the diverse, unconventional voices that shape its artistic legacy.
Civic Art Collection Focus: Roy De Forestruns concurrently with the Oakland Museum of California’s Roy De Forest retrospective, Of Dogs and Other People: The Art of Roy De Forest, on view April 29 – August 20, 2017.
About Roy De Forest
Roy De Forest (1930–2007) was an American painter, sculptor, and educator best known for his colorful, whimsical, and densely layered works that merged fantasy with folk sensibility. Born in North Platte, Nebraska, and raised in Yakima, Washington, he studied at the California School of Fine Arts and earned his MFA from San Francisco State College. Emerging during the Bay Area’s postwar artistic ferment, De Forest forged a singular path that blended the boldness of abstract expressionism with narrative figuration, filling his canvases with cartoon-like animals, eccentric characters, and dreamlike landscapes. His playful aesthetic and inventive use of materials positioned him as a central figure in the Funk Art movement of Northern California, where humor, irreverence, and a spirit of experimentation challenged conventional notions of “serious” art.
Alongside his studio practice, De Forest had a long teaching career, most notably at the University of California, Davis, where he influenced generations of younger artists. His work was widely exhibited during his lifetime and has been collected by major museums, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Known for his generosity, wit, and imagination, De Forest embraced art as a space of joy, curiosity, and exploration. His legacy endures in his vivid depictions of fantastical worlds populated by dogs, travelers, and dreamers—works that continue to invite audiences into a universe at once humorous, humane, and deeply original.