New SHAG opening

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MicheBel
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New SHAG opening

Post by MicheBel »

L.A. by NIGHT
New paintings by Josh Agle (SHAG)
Friday, September 2
8-11 pm
***********************************
La Luz de Jesus Gallery
4633 Hollywood Blvd.
LA, CA 90027
*************************************
I really hate modern art. Course, when I say that, I'm imagining a Jackson Pollock before me, with it's arbitrary (to me) paint splatters which are supposed to convey some deep meaning about life. Yeah, ok. They do nothing for me.

I'm sure if I was more schooled on his influences and on which brush stroke was significant, maybe I'd appreciate it more. As it is, I can't stand it. Can't stand to look at it, or view it as anything real in my life. Certainly couldn't hang one in my home.

But art gallery openings! Now there's something I can get behind (well, moreso when I drank, because usually they had lavish bars with great wines and cheeses--in Chicago and Detroit). Posh people attended. Not that I'm a snob that way (well, maybe I used to be when I drank). That whole thing of feeling important cause you're cool enough to be there.

But LA doesn't really have the "I'm so important, look at my art" thing that NY and Chicago have. At least, not that I know of. (Disdaining modern art as I do, I could be completely wrong about that.)

What LA DOES have, though, is SHAG. And Shag's art, I can get behind. I could have 100 Shags hanging on the walls of my home, and be happy indeed. (Well, and quite rich, because Shag's originals fetch a pretty penny.)

So it was with excitement that I visited the art opening of the new Shag artworks. The "gallery" was pretty unpredisposing. Very close to the horrendous sunstroke-inducing, tears-flowing-upon-exit experience I had last weekend at Sunstroke Junction, I was almost afraid to venture in this nabe again. This time, though, parking was easy.

I walk in, to what seems to be very similar to a comic books store. Plastic action figures everywhere, tschotskes bespeaking Tiki and hula girls for your dashboard. Oh wait, here's the SHAG table. And the second SHAG table. Both filled to the brim with SHAG paraphernalia. SHAG coasters, SHAG napkins. SHAG address books and diaries/journals. Some of them have Pink Panther artwork on them (you do know that SHAG did the 60s-style artwork for the new Pink Panther movie?). SHAG calendars. SHAG posters, sorry, PRINTS. A quick glance reveals that the prints of SHAG artwork range from $250-$375. Most of these are marked with "LAST ONE!" (I'm there ten minutes before 8 pm. I'm sure they are not still there now.)

So yes, if you didn't read my "SHAG with a Twist" review some months ago, or even if you did, rest assured--SHAG, aka Josh Agle, is a certified LA phenomenon. And the reason is this. His art is amazing. I have never seen artwork (other than maybe Michael Mann's movies) capture LA so well. And it sells better than Michael Mann's movies because it shows Los Angelenos AS THEY WANT TO BE SEEN.

Chic, glamourous, hipsters. The essence of cool. It's captured in a bottle in every SHAG painting. Many of them feature prominent LA landmarks. One, entitled "Paparazzi" features two lovers, obviously celebrities, hanging at Trader Vics. It's funny because while it shows a paparazzo snapping a photo in back, it also shows the large Tiki masks hanging on the walls copping at glance at the celebrities. Yes, in LA, even the inanimate objects bow to the stars.

Most of SHAG's art features lovers or love lost. People trying to get love, or people just dancing, cause they've given up on love. Well, rather like the love jungle that is LA itself.

The ones I tended to like the most use a lot of purples and blues. There are also ones with greens and reds. Reds, yellows and oranges. A bright, modern palette. Crisp graphics. Beautiful people in restaurants, or nightclubs, dancing, smoking, drinking from martini glasses.

The most disturbing one, to me, was one called "The Shooter" (obviously created in that time period when LA's freeways were being subjected to random shootings). It's a mostly green, nighttime scene, of a man sitting by the side of a freeway with a rifle. His face is cast with a garish orange glow of the lamp that sits beside him. Above him, on the overpass, stands a girl, looking down at him. She is also cast with the same, diffused, garish orange glow from the streetlight next to her.

I am reminded of the dialogue in Six Feet Under about modern art: "if it makes you want to throw up, it has succeeded." This picture then, "The Shooter" is the only SHAG which made me want to throw up. And, more than any of the others, it really captured the LA desperation that seems to be in all of us here.

The ones at the La Luz gallery are all night scenes. When I walked in at 8 pm, there were maybe two of them still left for sale. Easily half an hour later, they were all sold. I saw a couple of lesser works off to the side. One of them was marked $6,500. I can only imagine what the dozen other main paintings--ALL SOLD--were going for.

There is a concurrent show, "LA by DAY" at 454 N. Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90048. The cute postcards made for the shows featured the same cityscape. In the "Day" version, it's all in bright oranges, browns and lime greens. A man and his dog survey the luxe home on the hill (and watch the woman inhabitant through binoculars, as she watches TV), as the valley spreads out before them. The "Night" version features the exact same landscape, but all in blues and purples. The house on a hill now has a party going, and a woman sits on the hill and surveys it with her cat. I love this art. LOVE IT.

I would bet those are already all sold too. I would highly encourage a visit. If only for a postcard.
Loving ALL of Indie's shows, especially the guys they've been having in the morning!
Gooch
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Post by Gooch »

So there!!!! I just had my two Shag prints framed and they are ready to be hung!!!
~Gooch

"Librarians are the secret masters of the world. They control information. Don't ever piss one off..."
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MicheBel
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TWO Shags

Post by MicheBel »

Oh my god, Gooch. I already knew you were (are) the coolest. This just cements it! TWO Shag prints! You rock.

--Miche, forever in the awe of Ms. Gooch
Loving ALL of Indie's shows, especially the guys they've been having in the morning!
Gooch
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Post by Gooch »

Aah..Miche...thanks!!

This one is going over my bed:
Image

and this one next to my reading chair:
Image

Then in my dressing area, I have a pin-up girl motif.
~Gooch

"Librarians are the secret masters of the world. They control information. Don't ever piss one off..."
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MicheBel
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Gooch, the art mistress

Post by MicheBel »

Can I marry you now? :wink:

It's kinda scary how that first one (well, minus the Jim Beam bottle and smoking ciggy) looks a lot like my very own home. Purple rules. Plus, add an Indie poster or two... and you're there.

--Miche
Loving ALL of Indie's shows, especially the guys they've been having in the morning!
Gooch
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Joined: Sat Mar 12, 2005 7:37 am
Location: Claremont, CA
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Post by Gooch »

Yeah, both of them have my hair-do and the first one represents my 3 kitties, at least when I had 3 black kitties. Yeah, I don't care for the bottle or the cigarettes, but the rest of it is cool.
~Gooch

"Librarians are the secret masters of the world. They control information. Don't ever piss one off..."
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*Annie*
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Post by *Annie* »

Actually that 1st one looked familiar to me BECAUSE of the Jim Beam and the smoke.... I mean... incense.... now if only those cats were something else like full glasses of water... and make it about 7 of them.. some with dust collecting on the top.
"Bitches, don't you know I'm being sarcastic?!"
-Julian Casablancas
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