The first comprehensive retrospective by Roy De Forest, a founding faculty member of the UC Davis Department of Art, opens at the Oakland Museum of California April 29.The exhibition runs through August 20.

“Of Dogs and Other People: The Art of Roy De Forest” is made up of 50 paintings and sculptures that explore a colorful funky world where animals and humans frolic. De Forest taught at UC Davis from 1965 until 1992. Along with faculty members Robert Arneson and William Wiley, he was considered part of the Funk art movement that embraced messiness and humor. In conjunction with the exhibition, running through Aug. 20, the museum and the UC Press have just published a book on De Forest, who died in 2007.

“His unconventional style of painting is so profound—he’s an extremely important figure in American art,” according to exhibition curator Susan Landauer. “The exhibition offers a great variety of his works, from the humorous and serious to the whimsical and wondrous.”