He told me about a pair of a mixed-media pieces he acquired from Sonoma State University art shows. It's also art I can afford. Established artists are a little beyond my wallet. The Funk School, it's been called. Abstract expressionism has a seriousness of intent similar to the scholarly saxophone jazz of the era.
Funk art is more like jug band music, with kazoos and banjos.
In the large gallery of the di Rosa Preserve is a bust by Terry Allen. Shoe is a bronze of a businessman with an upside-down shoe in his mouth. The footwear has been jammed in so forcefully that the ends of the man's tie still swing in the breeze. If anything could sum up the di Rosa Preserve's collection, it's that song. This spirit of liberty and self-expression sometimes seems to be going the way of affordable housing.