Parlour Games Exhibition

In 2014 Josh Agle traveled to Australia for a three-city Outré Gallery solo exhibition tour. The exhibition Parlour Games was held at:

Perth from 17^th October to the 9^th November 2014 with a book signing on the 18^th October
Melbourne from 24^th October to the 13^th November 2014 with a book signing on the 25^th October
Sydney from 31^st October to the 16^th November with a book signing on the 1^st of November.

The Parlour Games exhibition featured sixteen original paintings and a selection of limited edition prints. The theme for the show is a study of traditional well-known board games in Shag’s inimitable style.

In The Wrong Game, a pipe-smoking man suggests the 1933 Hasbro Monopoly game to a fearful party of relaxing friends. The 1964 Marx Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots game is being played by a couple in front of an enthusiastic crowd in Queensbury’s Rules. I have no idea on the story in Le Jeu d’Echec (the failed game) where Dr. Scorpio (?) plays Chess with a naked lady while another, well-dressed, looks on.

The Wrong Game
Acrylic & Vinyl on Panel
Size: 34″x19″

Queensbury’s Rules
Acrylic & Vinyl on Panel
Size: 20″ x 14″

Le Jeu d’Echec
Acrylic & Vinyl on Panel
Size: 17″ x 14″

In A Friendly Wager, four immaculately dressed people bet on a game of the 1967 Ideal Toy Company classic KerPlunk. Three young ladies play Mystery Date, a 1965 board game from the Milton Bradley Company, in Mysterious Caller whilst a fourth prepares to go out on a date with a silhouetted suitor waiting with flowers outside the front door. The Eye of Zohar shows two people playing 1967 Transogram game Ka-Bala, with a glowing central eye of Zohar plastic spinning eyeball, watched by three cats.

A Friendly Wager
Acrylic & Vinyl on Panel
Size: 24″ x 18″

Mysterious Caller
Acrylic & Vinyl on Panel
Size: 23″ x 15″

The Eye of Zohar
Acrylic & Vinyl on Panel
Size: 21″ x 16″

The 1972 Parker Brothers’ game Boggle is being played in The Chronographer whilst the timekeeper holds the three-minute sand timer. In The Sweet Life a pair of young ladies play the 1949 Milton Bradley Company board game Candy Land. A girl wearing a cat costume (who we see again in the 2016 Primal Cuts painting), happily plays the 1963 Ideal game Mouse Trap with a pensive man in 8 1/2 Lives.

The Chronographer
Acrylic & Vinyl on Panel
Size: 17″ x 17″

The Sweet Life
Acrylic & Vinyl on Panel
Size: 13″ x 18″

8 1/2 Lives
Acrylic & Vinyl on Panel
Size: 12″ x 23″

The tired looking man in The Apologist suggests a game of W.H. Storey & Co’s 1929 game Sorry! to an unimpressed lady. In The Battle Sisters, two young ladies play the 1667 Milton Bradley game Battleship. The Go Girl seems to be rejecting a game of Go, a two thousand five hundred year-old abstract strategy board game.

The Apologist
Acrylic & Vinyl on Panel
Size: 12″ x 16″

The Battle Sisters
Acrylic & Vinyl on Panel
Size: 12″ x 24″

The Go Girl
Acrylic & Vinyl on Panel
Size: 6″ x 16″

The final four original acrylic and vinyl panel paintings each feature a young lady cradling a playing piece.

Game Girl
(Portrait in Blue)
Acrylic & Vinyl on Panel
Size: 8″ x 10″

Game Girl
(Portrait in Lime)
Acrylic & Vinyl on Panel
Size: 8″ x 10″

Game Girl
(Portrait in Persimmon)
Acrylic & Vinyl on Panel
Size: 8″ x 10″

Game Girl
(Portrait in Tangerine)
Acrylic & Vinyl on Panel
Size: 8″x10″

Additionally, a number of limited edition prints were shown at the three galleries of the exhibition tour. These included a 2005 artist proof of the 12-color hand-pulled serigraph print West Coast Jazz.

West Coast Jazz
Acrylic & Vinyl on Panel
Size: 30″ x 28″

The classic games featured in the Parlour Games exhibition at the Outré Gallery tour deserve a few original photographs. Included below are the twelve games that feature in the paintings.

Monopoly