Friday night I attended the preview reception for Shag’s new exhibit at Billy Shire Fine Arts in Culver City, and had a wonderful time gazing at Shag’s new shrink-wrapped consumable pieces of ready-made art. The show consists of a half dozen large paintings, along with 101 small 6” x 6” mini paintings, each of which were packaged in a cardboard and staple-sealed plastic baggie, then mounted pegboard-style on the wall as if mass produced for sale in Target or Walmart. The presentation and title of the show is a clever and playful take on “Shag as a brand,” with his work now appearing on everything from coasters, to wallets, to custom checks and vintage style lunch boxes. Pictures… of course!
The Wall o Shag…
More of the mini-paintings (and a quote from Honest Abe) — all of which were sold out within moments of the doors opening.
A close up of one of a Genuine Shag Painting! The writing on the lower right of the cardboard says, “Made in USA. Ages 6 and up.”
The six large paintings were all really great. Here’s a picture of three…
The two REALLY large paintings were each 8 feet wide and sold for $36,000 apiece. The painting I purchased, The Mentalist is there between the two large paintings, and it’s significantly smaller… maybe 3 feet wide including the frame and matting. It looked great and I can’t wait to bring it home and hang it in my upstairs lounge.
Ah… but apart from the paintings on display, the exhibit featured something wholly unexpected….
A cool, swingin’n’swanky, bachelor pad house!
The house would have been right at home in Palm Springs… or a Shag painting, and positioned as it was in the very center of the large gallery space, it was clearly the focus of the exhibit.
A picture facing the house, as you saw it from the front door of the gallery. The Mentalist can again be seen on the right side of the photo.
Dig the crazy angles on that roof!
And like any decent mid-century modern one could envision overlooking a desert oasis, floor-to-ceiling windows provide the view from the living room (complete with shag carpet, plastic furniture and fine art on the wood paneled walls.
The photo above was taken through the side windows, looking into one of the two small connected rooms. Let’s take a step inside for an Architectural Digest tour, shall we?
How about that sickly green shag carpeting and that laminated wood paneling, huh?
A shot of the living room, with patrons outside admiring The Bear of the Ball.
To the left is more of the living room, complete with an orange faux stone fireplace and sunburst wall sconces. Throughout the evening small children took great join in curling themselves into the fireplace; no doubt something they are not allowed to do at home.
Below is a long shot of the dining room with a nice round covering of orange shag.
Loooooooove the lamp, yes?
I have no idea who these kids belonged to, but they were right at home in the Shag Pad.
Yours truly taking a turn in the fine wire mesh chair…
Alas, I had no cocktail. Shag, on the other hand, did (not that spectacular martini with requisite green olive). Here, I believe he is being lectured for not installing a wet bar.
Running amok in the ultimate space age playhouse for art conscious kids.
I ended the evening at a cool restaurant not far from the gallery. Here’s a picture of the table, which I took in the reflection of some kind of shiny metallic orb above our table while dessert and coffee was being served. Mostly, gallery folks, collectors, a couple of art students, and Shag there on the middle right .
“Conspicuous Consumption” will be running from September 15 to October 20 at Billy Shire Fine Arts. Be there.
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