Other 2005 Group Shows

2005 was full of devastating world events so to focus on technology instead… YouTube was founded in February 2005 and sold eighteen months later to Google for $1.65B. Steve Fossett flew the first non-stop, non-refueled, flight around the world in the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer. And the superjumbo Airbus A380 made its first flight from Toulouse. In the contemporary art world, Josh Agle attended seventeen group art shows.

The Pop Pluralism show at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery is covered separately and the remaining fifteen group art shows in order were:

Group Show
The Group Show at the Mendenhall Sobieski Gallery in Pasadena, California was held from February 5^th to March 2^nd 2005. Thirteen artists contributed work including Shag with the 2004 painting The Story of Isaac (28” x 18”).

The Eye of the Illuminati
The Eye of the Illuminati group art exhibition was held at Track 16 Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, California from the 26^th February to March 2005. Copro Nason Gallery and Juxtapoz Magazine presented the exhibition of over ten artists. The opening reception for the group exhibit was from 8pm to 11:30pm on 26^th February. The exhibition included the original Shag painting Business Deal.

Inaugural Group Show 
The Inaugural Group Show ran at the  Billy Shire Fine Arts Gallery in Culver City, California from April 2^nd to May 7^th 2005. This group art show of seventeen artists included the Josh Agle original acrylic paint on panel painting Match Game 2005. This 40” by 24” painting sold for $11,000 USD.
Pop Surrealism: The Rise of Underground Art
The Pop Surrealism: The Rise of Underground Art group exhibition ran at the Sangre de Cristo Art Center in the Hoag Gallery, Pueblo, Colorado from 29^th April to the 19^th August 2005. The show included the work of over thirty lowbrow artists and was curated by Kristin Anderson, owner and curator of the Roq la Rue Gallery and editor of the book Pop Surrealism: The Rise of Underground Art which was published at the start of the year.

Bergamot Invasion
The Bergamot Invasion at the Copro Nason Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, California ran from June 18^th to July 2^nd 2005. This group exhibition of over forty artists had its opening reception from 7pm to 11:30pm on June 18^th. Shag contributed the original painting Tiny Bottle (30” x 23”) to the exhibition.

Paradirama
Paradirama is claimed to be the first international tiki exhibition and was held from 18^th June to the 30^th October 2005 at the Musee International Des Arts Modestes in Sete, France. This group art exhibit included wood and stone tikis, two huge resin moai, a tiki drum, tiki poles, Tahitian ukuleles, tiki mug collections, a real tiki bar and a wide collection of tiki art. Shag created the stunning Paradirama: Tikis, Surfers and Vahines Poster poster for the exhibition.

Dionysus
The Dionysus – Tribute to Dionysus Records group art show ran at the M Modern Gallery in Pasadena, California from the 9^th July to 28^th August (extended from the 31^st July) 2005. The artists reception ran from 8-11pm on July 9^th. The show included the work of over 40 artists including Shag who contributed the 1997 piece Woman on Record Island which sold for US$1,500. The show was curated by Andrew Brandou and included many of the artists who have done cover art for Dionysus Records.

Everywhere Show
The Everywhere Show ran at the Mendenhall Sobieski Gallery in Pasadena, California from 23^rd July to 16^th August 2005. The event included work from nine artists including Shag’s original acrylic on panel painting Samurai-Fi (24” x 19”).

Bohemian Surf Aesthetic
The La Luz de Jesus Gallery held the Bohemian Surf Aesthetic event from 6pm to 9pm on Friday 9^th September 2005. The show included artists Shag, John Van Hamerseld, and Chris Green; authors Domenic Priore and Brian Childster; and live surf music from The Boardwalkers.

Shag: The Art of Josh Agle Book Signing
The Shag: The Art of Josh Agle Book Signing was held at the W Hotel in San Diego, California from 8-9 pm on Thursday, 22nd September 2005 by Shag, BUZZ Magazine, Shagmart and M Modern Gallery. The events featured the Shag: The Art of Josh Agle book released and the Consolation Fish print.

Hot Lunch Artshow
The La-La Land Gallery in Los Angeles, California held a Hot Lunch Artshow from the 24^th September to the 21^st November 2005 where over thirty contemporary artists customized classic tin lunch boxes. Josh Agle produced a unique lunchbox and flask titled My First Cocktail for the exhibition. Following the exhibition, Dark Horse manufactured ten lunchboxes, selected by online voting by 2,371 website visitors. The metal lunch boxes were released on December 13^th 2006, measured 8″ x 7″ x 3 3/4″, and retailed for $14.99 USD. Each lunchbox also included a full set of seven hot lunch trading cards.

Madame Guignol’s Macabre Theatre 10^th Anniversary
The Hunger Artists’ annual performance of Madame Guignol’s Macabre Theatre (October 7^th to the 30^th) has become a Halloween tradition recreating the shock plays of Le Theatre du Grand Guignol. Company co-founder and artistic director Kelly Flynn directed two groups of short plays for the 10^th-anniversary staging in 2005. The Night of Thrills and Night of Chills plays are selected by an audience member on a ‘wheel of misfortune’ and invariably end with violent and bloody spectacles. Shag created a giclée named Guignol X for the 10th anniversary of Hunger Artists’ Theatre Company’s annual Halloween show at Madame Guignol’s Macabre Theatre in Fullerton, California. The style of the print is unusual for Shag but ideal as a poster for the grim show. Guignol X measures 13” by 19” and was produced in a small limited edition run of fifty copies without a CoA.

Samhain Party
The Samhain Party was held at the CoproNason Gallery in Santa Monica, California from the 22^nd to the 29^th October 2005. The opening reception for this group exhibition of over thirty artists was from 8pm to 11pm on Saturday 22^nd October. Samhain is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. Josh Agle’s contribution to the exhibition was the original acrylic on wood panel painting Fraidy Cat. The painting measures 26” by 17” and is hand signed by Shag.

Werewolf Bongo Party
The Werewolf Bongo Party was held at the DvA Gallery from the 29^th October to the 5^th December 2005. The opening reception on Saturday 29^th October 2005 ran from 7pm to 12pm. Shag submitted the painting The Raft Of The Medusa as well as 29″ by 20″ thirteen-color serigraph prints, in a hand-signed and numbered limited edition of 200 copies for $300 USD.

Cosmic Cocktail – A Group Show
The Cosmic Cocktail group art show was held at the DC Gallery in Denver, Colorado from 2^nd December 2005 to 21^st January 2006. The show featured the work of over fifteen artists including Shag who contributed the acrylic and vinyl paint on panel artwork Futuro Ufoja (20” by 14”) which sold for US$5000.