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Figures, squiggles, shapes, and patterns abound in Roy DeForest’s riotous multimedia work, which is bordered just as exuberantly by a frame he handmade. Trained on the west coast, DeForest initially made scrap metal sculptures and abstracted maze drawings in the 1950s before turning to more figurative work. Here, he created a whimsical and fantastical world for us to peer into. He described it as “a miniature cosmos into which the artful alchemist could retire with all his friends, animals and paraphernalia."
Untitled (Two Men Dancing)
Roy DeForest (American, 1930–2007)
1983
Medium/Technique
Pastel, watercolor, charcoal on paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 76.5 × 106.7 cm (30 1/8 × 42 in.)
Framed: 78.7 × 109.2 × 3.8 cm (31 × 43 × 1 1/2 in.)
Framed: 78.7 × 109.2 × 3.8 cm (31 × 43 × 1 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated by Susan W. and Stephen D. Paine
Accession Number1983.334
CollectionsContemporary Art, Americas
ClassificationsPaintings
Figures, squiggles, shapes, and patterns abound in Roy DeForest’s riotous multimedia work, which is bordered just as exuberantly by a frame he handmade. Trained on the west coast, DeForest initially made scrap metal sculptures and abstracted maze drawings in the 1950s before turning to more figurative work. Here, he created a whimsical and fantastical world for us to peer into. He described it as “a miniature cosmos into which the artful alchemist could retire with all his friends, animals and paraphernalia."
ProvenanceThe artist; with Fuller Goldeen Gallery, San Francisco, 1983; to MFA, Boston, 1983
CopyrightReproduced with permission.