Life of a Sportsman
1989-90
Rejecting the designation of “funk art,” a group of Northern California artists wryly adopted the term “nut art” in 1969 to describe their work. Roy De Forest—who grew up in Yakima and spent most of his career in Northern California—described nut art as a “squirrel in the forests of visual delights.” He continued, “Nut art really deals with nothing much. It has to do with phantasmagoric ideas—fantasies.” De Forest’s embrace of nonsensical humor and fantasy for its own sake is evident in his absurdist, over-the-top paintings, populated with mythical humans and animals, particularly the dogs who the artist adopted as his alter ego.
Acrylic on canvas mounted to wood
108 x 140 x 10 in. (274.3 x 355.6 x 25.4 cm), framed
Gift of The Persis Corporation
2002.44
Photo: Scott Leen
