Rags & Wood Printed

Roy De Forest

A rare, early Abstract Expressionist collagraph in large format by Northern California artist Roy De Forest. Though later known for figurative works often referred to as "California Funk" - a term he disliked - his roots were in the exploratory Abstract Expressionist art scene of the West Coast, specifically at the California School of Fine Arts (CSFA; now the San Francisco Art Institute). Here, we see a foreshadowing of his loved of colorful, palpable texture (as with his later "rasied dot" technique) as he presses rough, frayed-edged rags into a sheet of rose-tinted paper

De Forest was known for plotting his own course, never aiming to fit in but to find what felt right. In the first decade of his artistic career, therefore, he thrived in the experimental environment of the CSFA. By 1957 he had taken various courses in painting and printmaking from artists such as Clyfford Still, Richard Diebenkorn, James Budd Dixon and Sonia Getchoff.