Artist Biography
We are deeply saddened by the death of Roy De Forest.
Roy De Forest was one of the preeminent artists of the California Bay Area. Usually associated with the “Funk” art movement, De Forest created paintings, drawings, and sculptures with just the right amount of intrigue and irreverence: “For me, one of the most beautiful things about art is that it is one of the last strongholds of magic. It is one of the few areas of human activity in which it is possible to do something for which you would be otherwise locked up or incarcerated, especially if you were a politician and did what you can do in a painting.”
De Forest made three prints at Shark’s: Van Gogh in the Tropics in 1999, Ode to Rin Tin Tin in 2002, and Dogman and Indian in 2006. An elaborate frame, fabricated and painted by the artist, completes each.
De Forest was an influential teacher at the University of California/Davis and exhibited his work worldwide in numerous solo and group shows.
Selected Collections: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
View or download his complete biography.
Prints by the Artist
