Roy De Forest
During January and February the George Adams Gallery will present a memorial survey of paintings, drawings and constructions by Roy DeForest. DeForest began exhibiting in the late 1950s and continued to show regularly in New York and his native San Francisco until his untimely death at 77 this past May. His last New York exhibition was held at the gallery in December 2005.
The earliest work in the current exhibition is a construction/painting from 1961. Measuring only 14 x 13 inches, this entirely abstract work sets the standard for the work to come with its encrusted paint, heavily textured surface and painted frame. Two early drawings and two large-scale paintings, "A Bird In Hand" and "The Silas Newcastle Goes Down," from 1965 and 1966 respectively, capture the artist's transition from abstraction to figuration and establish DeForest's use of multi-layered, simultaneous narratives. In "A Bird In Hand" one also finds an early example of DeForest's favorite subject: the dog.
DeForest's works of the 1970s are typically exuberant narratives set in animated, often anthropomorphic, landscapes. An untitled drawing from 1976 included in the exhibition features a red devil and a cowboy firing his six shooter surrounded by a host of dogs and rabbits of various size, the entire scene rendered in an agitatedly cubist style with lines and markings in colored pencil careening wildly across the page.
During the 1980s DeForest relied less on multi-layered narratives and began to focus on singular scenes. In a drawing from 1981 included in the current exhibition, a hiker, accompanied by his trusty dog, peacefully hikes a mountain range formed from breasts topped by erect nipples. In "Campout," a large canvas from 1985, DeForest paints a night scene of a camper surrounded by his dogs and wildlife just outside the firelight, a scene lit from above by an overly large full moon.
The exhibition also includes paintings and drawings from the last decade. Several of these works find their subjects in DeForest's own adventures, including regular family summer camping trips to Yosemite or more exotic locals such as Patagonia. One example, "Black Horse Meadow," 2004-2005, is a large shaped canvas that features, among other elements, horses, a bull, a rabbit, Chilean gauchos and a life-size crow projecting off the upper right corner of the framer. Similarly, "Camp Monet," a monumental drawing with an elaborate artist made frame from 1991, depicts a mountain scene with a central figure (the artist) driving a dog-led wagon with his palette dangling from the rear.
The works in the show, combined, capture the intensity, superb draftsmanship and richness of DeForest's work over the last 40 years. They also establish DeForest as a truly original artist who freely combined reality with fantasy throughout his career. He developed and reveled in a world of his own imagination unlike any other artist of his time.
The exhibition will be on view through February 16th. In order to best represent DeForest's achievements, works will be rotated in and out during the exhibition. For more information and visuals, please visit the gallery's website: www.georgeadamsgallery.com or contact the gallery.
Gallery hours are Tuesday - Saturday from 10am to 6pm and Mondays by appointment.
Checklist
Main Gallery
1. Silas Newcastle Goes Down, 1966
acrylic on canvas, artist-made frame
59 x 60 inches
RDp 17
2. Black Horse Meadow, 2004-05
acrylic and vinyl on canvas, artist-made frame
62 x 73 3/4 inches
RDp 27
3. Resting Place of the Carrot Magnate, 1961
oil, acrylic and polyvinyl acetate on masonite, artist-made frame
14 x 13 1/2 inches
Private Collection
4. Song of the Blackbird, 2005
acrylic and vinyl on canvas, artist-made frame
60 1/4 x 64 1/2 inches
RDp 33
5. Camp Monet, 1991
mixed media on paper, artist-made frame
frame: 63.5 x 95 inches; drawing: 42 x 86.5 inches
RDd 56
6. Hog Farm, 2001
acrylic on board, artist-made frame
40 x 50 inches
RDp 40
7. A Bird in the Hand, 1965
polymer on canvas, artist-made frame
72 x 60 inches
RDp 19
Front Window
Untitled, 2003
mixed media on paper, artist-made frame
38 x 52 inches
RDd 49
Drawing Gallery
8. Untitled, 2001
mixed media on paper, artist-made frame
41 x 53 inches
RDd 51
9. Untitled, 1972
pastel on paper
24 3/8 x 32 5/8 inches
Private Collection
10. Untitled (shooting gun and devil), 1976
pastel on paper, artist-made frame
22 1/2 x 30 inches
RDd 03
11. Untitled (Landscape-Nipples), 1981
pastel, mixed media, artist-made frame
22 x 30 inches
RDd 09
12. 2 Planes Many Passengers, 1983-84
mixed media on paper, artist-made frame
frame: 35 x 44 inches; drawing: 30 x 40 inches
RDd 55
13. Untitled (Doodles), 1967
pastel, pencil on paper
22 1/2 x 30 inches
RDd 29
14. Dr. Fu Man Choo, 1966
colored pencil, crayon, ballpoint pen on paper
22 1/4 x 30 inches
Private Collection