Darrell Forney

1933-2001

Darrell Forney taught art at Sacramento City College for 34 years.

Darrell Forney may be known for painting crows, along with his whimsical take on picture postcards. But there’s another dimension to his oeuvre.

Forney, a Sacramento artist and teacher came of age with Gregory Kondos and Wayne Thiebaud, and his painting of the 1960s show the influence of this artist.

Forney left a number of art pieces not seen by many people—either because galleries decided these works didn’t fit the shows they were curating, or because Forney decided not to release them for whatever reason. This may be one reason he was not as well known as his contemporizes.

His works range from large abstract oils from the late 1970s and early 1980s; one of them, “Sky,” appears to contain the World Trade Center’s twin towers, multiple impact points and a dotted-line trajectory) that presciently anticipate contemporary graffiti art to assembled, collage-like pieces that form humorous non-sequitorial narratives from the 1940s and 1950s, like vintage advertising cartoons, think Charles Atlas meets Marcel Duchamp, and range to funky acrylics with inscrutable subject matter, to archival sketches and block prints, some dating back to the ’50s.

A few paintings include Forney’s signature crows, but most don’t. According to the singularly monickered Rhett, MatrixArts’ director, this is the stuff that Forney really liked to create, works where he could really stretch his wings.

By Victoria Dalkey

Bee Art Correspondent

Updated March 08, 2017

Beatnik Studios on Tuesday, March 14, will screen a selection of films by the late artists Darrell Forney and Horst Leissl in conjunction with “Playing Around,” a show of Forney’s works from private collections and the Sacramento City College collection on view through March 23.

Forney left an indelible print on Sacramento art from the 1960s to the early 2000s through paintings, collages, films and music.

Noted for his Crow paintings, Large Letter Postcard paintings and Sewing Pattern paintings, Forney was a beloved Sacramento artist who delighted audiences with his work and his irrepressible sense of humor.

He died in 2001 at the age of 68.