SHAG: The Collected Works - Hardcover

Shag

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1623260949 ISBN 13: 9781623260941

Publisher: AMMO Books, 2017

Synopsis

With an unparalleled collection of paintings and illustrations, featuring new and unpublished pieces, Josh Agle―more commonly known as Shag―presents a tome bursting with vibrant colors, vivacious personalities, and a magic mirror into midcentury modernism.

Including an introduction by author and expert on 1960s and '70s youth culture, Domenic Priore, SHAG: The Collected Works serves as a curated catalogue of Shag's creativity of the past three decades.

Travel through Shag's creativity, enjoying themed creations from over the years, including Cocktails & Characters, Utopia/Dystopia, and Modernism Madness. A collection of previously unseen Disney-inspired work will grace the pages of this one-of-a-kind book, as well as a behind-the-scenes look into Shag's studio in Southern California. SHAG: The Collected Works contains collaborations with impressive design entities, including typography creation with prolific type foundry House Industries.

Shag's work has been showcased in solo exhibitions around the world, including exhibitions in Japan, Australia, Europe, the United States, and South America. Two retail locations, in Palm Springs and West Hollywood, offer his huge fan base the opportunity to purchase exclusive prints, as well as a marvelous smattering of merchandise, including handbags, pillows, glassware, jewelry, and the odd signature ukulele.

About this title

About the Author

Shag is a painter, designer, and illustrator working in Southern California. His distinctive artistic style draws from commercial illustration from the past five decades, but the work is imbued with an attitude and sly sense of humor which is unmistakably of our time.

The paintings themselves celebrate consumerism and consumption on vividly colored sharply rendered panels; the characters drink, smoke and eat in lavish, stylish surroundings. But Shag sees the visuals of his work as window-dressing or stage scenery. He's more concerned with the themes and narratives in the paintings, and the meanings a viewer might find when he looks at a piece of Shag art.

Shag lives with his wife and children in a midcentury home overlooking a peaceful wooded valley, much like homes he paints in his art. He considers Palm Springs, California his second home and is an enthusiastic booster for the city.

Review

"There's something about Shag's paintings and illustrations that instantly make me feel carefree. Sitting in sweats, slurping coffee on a dripping day, in my mind I'm casting bon mots over a pool full of the coolest people on the planet.

And sure, it may seem shallow, but what if we could live in a buoyant, optimistic world where sexy partygoers pose in fabulously transparent modern homes? Where stars twinkle over a square-jawed Romeo seducing a lingerie-clad lady over the phone, and Tiki totems lord over talked-out barflies.

If such a place exists in the real world, please invite me. I'll bring the cocktail umbrellas." ―The Oregonian

"Shag's light and dark, artistic and commercial work is all on glorious display in a gorgeous new collection titled 'Shag: The Collected Works.' This book levels Shag's wide playing field, encompassing his acrylic paintings as well as the things featuring his artwork you aren't likely to see hanging in any museum. ... It's all marvy. So is his taste in pop culture as he gives The Beatles, The Ramones, The Velvets, the Universal Monsters, 'The Twilight Zone,' 'The Planet of the Apes,' 'Star Wars,' 'Batman," and Disneyland the Shag treatment." ―Psychobabble

About this edition

• Publisher: AMMO Books
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1623260949
• ISBN 13: 9781623260941
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 192