Santa Monica

Northern Californian Roy de Forest has produced nearly two decades of fantasy paintings and drawings populated by cartoony wayfarers and their pets. De Forest’s humorous figuration is alive, well and wry as ever in a small sampling of drawings, a couple of large paintings and a table shaped like a Dachshund.

The 12-piece drawing suite, “A Journey to the Far Canine Range and the Unexplored Territory Beyond Terrier Pass,” is based on a trek to Yosemite. De Forest’s wilderness includes multiple suns beating down wiggly waves of heat over boulders and trees that have happy little faces. The protagonist--a wizened eccentric hermit seeking truth in nature (the artist?)--schmoozes with supiciously human dogs and bulbous-nosed Indians with punk coifs.

The silly content and Sunday-funnies look keep us from noticing a mastery over many media that De Forest shares with fellow funk artist William Wiley. In each drawing De Forest moves seamlessly from skillful cross-hatched draftsmanship in pencil or pastel to large velvety areas to details of thick paint dripped in beads. Zany and lovable, this art bridges the tastes of art connoisseurs and fans of Pee-wee Herman.

Concurrently, Vincent Gallo shows fruit and bowl arrangements formed from grainy, accidental looking erosions on metal sheets accented with color. When the results are too spelled out--the old grapes and wine bottle routine--the work looks like Italain restaurant decoration. When Gallo stops short of description and intimates moody scenes (“Under the Moon”), the works suggest ancient wall fragments. (Dorothy Goldeen Gallery, 1547 9th St., to Aug. 27.)