Roy De Forest
During January and February, the George Adams Gallery presents in the Main Gallery, “A Simple Life,” an exhibition of small-scale paintings by Roy De Forest (1930-2007). The 11 paintings in the show, dating between 2000 and 2003, range in size from 24 x 24 inches to 33 x 33 inches and are mounted in the artist's carved and hand-painted frames. Created shortly before the artist’s death in 2007, these portrait-style works focus on De Forest’s favorite subjects of dogs, horses, donkeys, and men, playfully featured in his unique compositions of animated colors and rich mosaic patterns. De Forest, who showed regularly with the gallery since his first exhibition in 1966 (then known as the Allan Frumkin Gallery), is the subject of a retrospective exhibition being organized by the Oakland Museum in California scheduled for 2015.
Concurrently on view in the Drawing Gallery are three paintings and three drawings made between 1960 and 1969. Of particular note are two paintings from the early 1960s, “Lily of the Valley,” (c.1960) and “Untitled” (1961), which introduce several familiar motifs found in De Forest's later work.
Exhibition Checklist
1.
Farm Horse, 2002
Acrylic on panel, artist frame
32 x 32 inches
RDp50
2.
Donkey Pastures, 2001
Acrylic on linen, artist frame
31 ¼ x 31 ¼ inches
RDp 55
3.
A Dog of Our Times, 2000
Acrylic on panel, artist frame
26 1/4 x 26 inches
RDp 52
4.
Untitled, 2000
Acrylic on linen
29 ½ x 32 inches
RDp 54
5.
Farm Mule, 2000
Acrylic on panel, artist frame
27 3/4 x 33 1/8 inches
RDp 51
6.
Sarge, 2002
Acrylic on panel, artist frame
33 x 33 inches
RDp 49
7.
Horse Farm (2), 2002
Acrylic on panel, artist frame
33 1/2 x 33 ½ inches
RDp 59
8.
A Man of the Country, 2003
Acrylic on panel, artist frame
23 1/2 x 21 inches
RDp 53
9.
Horse Sense, 2002
Acrylic on panel, artist frame
23 x 23 inches
RDp 56
10.
Henry, 2002
Acrylic on panel, artist frame
24 x 24 inches
RDp 57
East Window:
11.
A Man of Our Times, 2002
Acrylic on panel, artist frame
26 1/4 x 23 1/2 inches
RDp 58
West Window:
12.
Hog Farm, 2001
Acrylic on panel
40 x 50 inches
RDp 40