La Luz de Jesus kicks off the new year with the return of SHAG. Born
in 1962 in Sierra Madre, California, Shag, the alter-ego of mild mannered
illustrator and painter Josh Agle, grew up in Hawaii and Southern
California. He received his BA in Fine Arts at Cal State Long Beach
where he was rigorously trained in classical drawing and painting.
This instruction, along with his love for early '60s music, vintage
album designs and the illustrations of Gene Dietch and Jim Flora helped
shape the art of Shag.
Since
his first one man show at La Luz de Jesus in 1998, Shag has met with
phenomenal success. He has sold out exhibitions in the United States,
Sydney, Australia, and most recently in Japan. His collaborative work
with designer Paul Frank inspired a line of purses, wallets, CD cases
and bar stools which immediately sold out at last year's opening.
Shag has created a whole line of tiki mugs and lamps for Tiki Farm
and has also illustrated various date books and grog logs. Shag has
also been responsible for almost every single aspect of design for
Venus, a new cocktail lounge/restaurant at the Venetian resort on
the Las Vegas strip. His latest book, Bottomless Cocktail,
(the second publishing venture by La Luz de Jesus Press and Last Gasp)
has just been released prompting Shag to go on a whirlwind book signing
tour. Shag has been showing his work at La Luz de Jesus since 1996.
Bottomless Cocktail marks our fifth annual solo exhibition of his
paintings.
