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Roy De Forest Early Life Roy De Forest was born on February 11th, 1930 in North Platte, Nebraska. De Forest’s family lost the family farm in Nebraska and were forced to move to Yakima, Washington. Here the De Forest’s bought a new farm, where they harvested pears and plums. De Forest described his family as “not really well off” (Interview). Education Early in school, De Forest was interested in being an engineer or working in the sciences. In high school, De Forest became interested in painting after taking an art course. He won a poster for national apple week and money to spend on art supplies. De Forest went on to attend a local junior College (name?) in Yakima. Here his interest for Art History began. He realized that he had to work extremely hard to obtain passing grades in classes like math and science. De Forest wanted to do something that came more easily to him and decided to take another art course in college. He eventually recieved a scholarship to attend the Knsas City Art Institutre but didn’t attend because his father passed away. He eventually decided to attend the San Francisco Art Instistute (now called the California School of Fine Arts) on scholarship. After two years (1950-1952) in the Institute, De Forest moved on to San Francisco State College, where he earned his B.A. (1953) and M.A. (1958). Brief Spell in Army: After leaving the San Franciso Art Institute, De Forest joined the army (maybe year?). He was stationed in Ft. Lewis, Washington, and was in an engineering outfit. He was in particular a sign painter. Influences: During his time at the San Francisco Art Institue and San Francisco State College De Forest named many teachers that influenced him. The most prominent of these, however, was Hassel Smith. Shows/Displays: King Ubu Gallery Ferus Gallery Teaching Career: After graduating from San Francisco State University, De Forest got his first teaching job at the junior college he attended in Yakima. He spent two years teaching there. After this job he moved around from job to job for a short period of time, teaching children’s classes in Oakland. He also taught night classes at San Quentin. Here, he worked in the Adjustment Center, which later became death row. De Forest described his time teaching in San Quentin as extremely interesting and a greatly influenced his teaching. (not sure if you should keep). De Forest started working for a young UC Davis Art Department in 1965. He was originally hired as a lecturer but worked his way up assistant professor and eventually full-time professor in 1974. De Forest helped raise the program into national prominence. He retired from teaching 1992.

Techniques: Early in De Forest’s art career he used standard oil paint to make landscape paintings. Later, in a deliberate attempt to move away from abstract expressionism, De Forest moved away from using oil paint and began using different mixtures of water-based paint. This does not allow the color of his paintings to blend as it would with oil paint. He sometimes used cheap oil paint as well to get his desired rough, scorched textures. Style: De Forest claims that “the aspect of invention in painting is the major factor in what you would call my style of painting” (Interview). De Forest rejected traditional styles of painting. He claimed that “rather than, say, taking an image and then finding a way to express it in paint, sometimes I think about how to use a paint and then find an image that fits it (interview).” De Forest believed in having a great amount of variety in paintings. He believes that everything in a painting should differ in size, shape, etc. De Forest rejected the bilateral symmetry that came with Mondrian art. De Forest was a part of the Funk Art movement that originated in the Bay Area in California. Members of the Funk Art Movement rejected abstract expressionism, in favor of using figuration in their artworks. This movement flourished in the 1960s into the 1970s. De Forest coined the term “Nut Art”. This describes an approach to creating art with humor, while also including elements of dream/fantasy words. This movement coincided with the Funk Art movement and was popular in the late 1960s, into the early 1970s. Overall, De Forest’s style depicts journeys fantasy lands filled with creatures, some familiar, some not. These lands were comical and crowed, filled with texturized, hallucinogen colors. He claims that he is an “obscure visual constructor of mechanical delights (NY Times).” Elements to his Art: Before leaving abstract expressionism, De Forest painted many landscape paintings. After leaving, which conincided with a move away from landscape paintings, De Forest moved on to more random paintings. He jokingly would describe some of his works as “successful accidents” (interview). De Forest certainly did not overanalyze his creations. De Forest is known for painting “swarming” (NY Times) dots in his work. His dots are a trademark of De Forest’s works. They add a tacile quality to his art. De Forest dots eventually evolved into some experimentation with pointillism. De Forest is most known for the use of animals and fantasy creatures in his art, in particularly, dogs. De Forest became inspired to use animals in his artwork because he grew up on a farm and was constantly surrounded with dogs, cows, horses and other animals. He liked to add creatures into his art because they reminded him of his past. De Forest believed that these animals also made his paintings more fun to make. De Forest also worked with sculpture. He made sculptures of frames and mixed it with painting. For De Forest, sculpture was nothing without his painting, so that was always his main focus. De Forest was also a very skilled printmaker. Notable works of Art: Country Dog Gentlemen, 1972 Dog Lamp, 1970 Personal Life: De Forest married Gloria De Forest and the couple had two children, a son named Pascal and a daughter, named Orianna. He has three sisters; Beth, Beverly, and Lynn Later Years: De Forest spent his last years in his home/studio in Porta Costa, California. He died after a brief illness in Vallejo, California on May 18th, 2007.