Australia’s so-hip-it-hurts art gallery, Outré Gallery, will play host to Los Angeles artist SHAG (aka Josh Agle) next month, when the artist arrives in Australia for a three-city tour to present his new works, under the title Inscrutable Mystery Guide.

Inscrutable Mystery Guide

The exhibition is set to embrace Shag’s new direction towards a darker mood, more surreal subject matter and more complex compositions. Shag takes an sidestep away from the retro iconography and lifestyle that has marked his career, with a whole new realm of crisply rendered dream-scenes, perfectly balanced hues and amazing narratives.  These new style works will sit next to a collection of older prints and rare editions from the past.

The name of the exhibition refers to an exclusive (and mysterious) book that the artist has produced to accompany the paintings.

“Inscrutable Mystery Guide is actually the little book that accompanies each small tiki painting,” says Josh. “It’s my hope that the books won’t be seen by anyone except the person who owns one of those paintings. I want to bring them into my own little cult and tell them some secrets.”

Outré will host a series of gala openings across the three cities with the artist out from for the events.  There will be book signings with the artist on the first Saturdays in each city for his title Autumn’s Come Undone.

———————————————————-

One-on-One with Shag

What is the mood of this body of work?

This work is playful, but I’ve tried to throw a couple spanners into what people might expect from my art.  I’ve created 99 small, colourful paintings of tikis, but each tiki bears a symbol. Each painting will be accompanied by an Inscrutable Mystery Guide, a small book I’ve made that attempts to decode the symbols and idea behind the work. In addition, I’ve created several large, panoramic canvases which will give further clues as to what the whole thing is all about.  In the past year my work has gotten darker and moved into new themes and imagery, but I’m trying to reconcile my old body of work with my new work, and trying not to be as manic depressive and serious as I was in the last year or so.

How would you describe the palette of colours?

Though I’m known for bright colours, my recent work has gotten darker and grayer.  The small tiki paintings retain the old, bright classic Shag palette, but the larger canvases are more muted, reflecting the heavier or more personal themes in those images.

What artists have influenced you in this body of works more so than previously?

My biggest influence in the last year has been Hieronymous Bosch.  I saw his original Garden of Earthly Delights tripych at the Prado in Madrid a couple years ago and was really affected by it.  I’d seen it in books, but the sheer scale and detail was surprising.  I wanted to capture some of that with these large canvases.  Pieter Bruegel has also influenced these works, though I’m sure he was heavily influenced by Bosch himself.  More contemporary or recent artists who’ve been influential include Leonora Carrington, Marcel Dzama, Luigi Serafini and Eric Fishl.

What sparked your shift which was marked by Autumn’s Come Undone?

About 18 months ago, I reached a point where I realized I had accomplished much more in my life than I ever expected.  I looked at what I had achieved, and the material things these achievements had brought to my life, and I wasn’t sure if  it was all worth it.  Having a big house, expensive cars, a housekeeper and other luxuries suddenly felt like a burden.  I had an overwhelming desire to get rid of it all, to cut back on my work, to downsize my life and focus on things that I began to realize were more important:  my friends, my children, traveling, surfing, etc.  But I have many people who depend on my income, and I have a family that has become very accustomed to the lifestyle they live.  I felt pulled in two strong directions, and began to get mood swings and unpredictable behavior.  A year of that resulted in the exhibit Autumn’s Come Undone.

Are there historical elements that you’ve been excited to bring out?

For this show, I allude to the time when Europeans were colonizing the South Pacific, destroying the old ways and establishing Christianity.  I’m also interested in showing child labor and sweatshops from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  At the same time, you’ll still see traces of my fascination with 1950s and 1960s modernism.

What comments on modern society?

Many people have seen my work in the last year as a comment on society, or our current times, but it’s not that at all.  Almost every element or piece of imagery relates to my own life, or my past, or where I’m afraid I might end up.   Even the use of colonizers and missionaries, child labourers and native slaves is not meant to reflect society or our culture.

What does the title refer to?

Inscrutable Mystery Guide is actually the little book that accompanies each small tiki painting.  It’s my hope that the books won’t be seen by anyone except the person who owns one of those paintings. I want to bring them into my own little cult and tell them some secrets.

Do these works have a self-referential element to them?

These works are very self referential.  Each large canvas contains a self portrait of me!

What are some recurring characters or elements that people will see?

The only recurring characters are me, a boy in a British school uniform with the head of an ant, and of course, tikis.

What works will make up the show?

This show will have 99 small original paintings of an idol, each accompanied by the Inscrutable Mystery Guide.  There will be five large panoramic canvases which all fit together—like a triptych, except five of them—though I don’t think all five will be displayed at a single gallery.  These five are a continuation of other large canvases that were shown in Brazil and Chicago earlier this year.

TOUR DATES

The Inscrutable Mystery Guide

Melbourne

249 Elizabeth St, Melbourne CBD

from Saturday 14 August 2010
(exhibition runs for three weeks)

Sydney

Shop 7, 285a Crown St (cnr Campbell), Surry Hills
from Saturday 21 August 2010
(exhibition runs for three weeks)

Perth

260 William St, Northbridge
from Saturday 28 August 2010
(exhibition runs for three weeks)

Outré Gallery will offer original Shag paintings, super-sized giclee prints on canvas (in especially small editions), new serigraph prints and rare prints. www.outregallery.com

All images used with permission Outre Gallery.

REALITY BITES

Australian artist Ben Frost creates art that entertains as much as it aggravates.  And that suits him just fine…

Interview:  Kate Hutchinson

What inspired you to become an artist?
“It’s better than a normal job—and I can nap whenever I feel like it.”

What would you do for a buck if you couldn’t make art?
“I would probably be the guy in the factory who tests disposable lighters.”

What’s behind the style of art you create?
“I believe that any creative endeavour is about trying to process and figure out the world around us. I’m still trying to come to terms with how saturated we all are with advertising, television, the media, and what this means for our society. I don’t pretend that I’ve come up with any answers, but being able to critically assess how we live and why we’re so obsessed with ridiculous things like Britney Spears and Fly-Buys, is my main motivation.”

What have you been working on recently?
“Lately I’ve been working a lot with artists on Stupidkrap.com, the art portal I run.  It’s always funny when I call  a new supplier or client, and say: “Hi, I’m calling from Stupidkrap..”, the irony is quite delicious. We make prints and help promote Australian artists in exhibitions and projects, mostly out of Sydney, but also in other States as well.”

How do you stay inspired?
“I spend a lot of time trawling the Internet and in second-hand book stores looking for bizarre images that I can find new ways to subvert.  In my art practice, I’m only as good as the images I can find to work with,  so I have to be constantly updating my library of pictures to keep it fresh.

“I have boxes and boxes of strange old magazines I bought on Ebay and scraps of packaging I found on the street somewhere.  I love going through the supermarket aisles and buying products based entirely on the merit of its packaging design–it’s totally inspiring. The packaging on the Ratsak box is my favourite; I always look at it when I visit the supermarket, even though I don’t have rodent problems.”

Do you have other interests, outside of art?
“I sing in a punk band when we have time to rehearse and do gigs.  I also like watching really bad movies.”

What can we expect from you this year?
“More exhibitions closer to home. I have shows planned in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. You can get updates on my exhibitions by joining the mailing list at my website: www.benfrostisdead.com”

What do you think makes your work popular?

“I make Pop Art, so there’s heavy use of popular imagery in my work that most people can instantly recognise. I think people also enjoy seeing their favourite—or least favourite—icons and logos manipulated and subverted to create new dialogues that you [otherwise] wouldn’t get to see.

“Pop Art [offers] a way to ‘take the power back’, because you can have some control over the images that companies and the media are always  ramming down our throats.  You can take these images and characters and alter them to show the kind of twisted things they probably do behind the scene—like Astroboy giving you the finger, Pluto and Goofy doing it doggy-style, or Bambi giving birth to a stream of baby Bambis.”

Didn’t some guy slash one of your paintings at a recent exhibition?
“I’ve made a few paintings that speak too directly for some people to be able to process.  I did a painting of two children preparing to shoot up drugs in an idyllic setting, with an aeroplane crashing in the background.  The piece was displayed in an area of Brisbane where there was a marked increase in the use of intravenous drugs by younger people, and it caused some controversy but at the same time it also created healthy discussion about the context of what [the painting] means and [why] it was displayed [there].

“I think many people are frightened of the reality of their own environment, and rather than try to do something to change it, they compensate by being overly critical of people who are trying to express what is staring them in the face.”

Is there a specific piece that you are especially proud of?
“I’ve always really liked the painting ‘Kmart After Dark’.  It was one of the first paintings I made when I returned [to Australia, in 2005] after living in Tokyo, and I feel like it captures the frenetic and fluoro energy of what it’s like to walk through Shibuya—or Kmart, for that matter.”

Do you have a favourite gallery to exhibit your work?
“The solo show I did at Brooklynite Gallery in New York [in June 2009], is definitely my favourite. It’s in this intense section of Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn, and there’s this great grassed area out the back where DJs play and you can continue [viewing] artwork from the gallery space inside through to the outdoors.”

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
“Hopefully, I will have made the ultimate painting that will end world hunger, prompt world peace, and help Brad and Angelina work out any difficulties with Jennifer Aniston.”

See more of Ben’s work at: http://www.benfrostisdead.com