Thursday’s Girl Exhibition
Shag’s fourth solo exhibition at the Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York was held from the 6th April to the 4th May 2013.
The exhibition, titled Thursday’s Girl is based on the song All Tomorrow’s Parties by The Velvet Underground and Nico. The classic song was written by American musician Lou Reed and released on the group’s 1967 debut studio album The Velvet Underground & Nico. The inspiration for the song came from Lou Reed’s observation of Andy Warhol’s New York City studio, the factory. The lyrics of the song are as follows:
To all tomorrow’s parties?
A hand-me-down dress from who knows where
To all tomorrow’s parties
And where will she go and what shall she do
When midnight comes around
She’ll turn once more to Sunday’s clown
And cry behind the door
And what costume shall the poor girl wear
To all tomorrow’s parties?
Why silks and linens of yesterday’s gowns
To all tomorrow’s parties
And what will she do with Thursday’s rags
When Monday comes around?
She’ll turn once more to Sunday’s clown
And cry behind the door
And what costume shall the poor girl wear
To all tomorrow’s parties?
For Thursday’s child is Sunday’s clown
For whom none will go mourning
A blackened shroud, a hand-me-down gown
Of rags and silks, a costume
Fit for one who sits and cries
For all tomorrow’s parties
The eighteen acrylic on panel paintings feature mid-modern design showing afluence and high-style. The themes of youth, celebrity, and excess appear through many of the images. A QR code was shown alongside each painting, which when scanned gave a brief associated story. For example the QR code for The Silver Years gives the story: Who were all those weirdos? At least she found Andy’s cat in the corner. Samuel Mc Whiskers was far more interesting than anyone else at the factory.
The principal painting in the exhibition is The Silver Years, painted in acrylic on panel and measuring a huge 72 by 26 inches. The painting features Andy Warhol, Edie Sedgwick, Nico, and The Velvet Underground.
The Silver Years
Acrylic on panel (72″x26″)
The painting The Inevitable Happens shows The Velvet Underground and Nico playing together, whereas Velvet Study focuses solely on The Velvet Underground.
Acrylic on panel (40″x17″)
Acrylic on panel (18″x12″)
The next series of five paintings feature cocktails, attractive people, and parties in mid-modern apartments. Out with the Old features the 1967 studio album The Velvet Underground & Nico.
Acrylic on panel (20″x16″)
Acrylic on panel (15″x12″)
Acrylic on panel (24″x13″)
Acrylic on panel (24″x16″)
Acrylic on panel (12″x12″)
Next are two paintings with music, Tiki masks, and cats. Also shown below is the stunning Vespa moped painting After the Rains, later converted into a serigraph print.
Acrylic on panel (22″x15″)
Acrylic on panel (12″x18″)
Acrylic on panel (15″x24″)
In July 2012, Shag released Pecking Order, a limited edition set of three bird sculptures (shown below) and a twelve-colour hand-pulled serigraph print. The acrylic on panel original for the Pecking Order print was exhibited in the Thursday’s Girl Exhibition.
Acrylic on panel (24″x15″)
Three more Vespa mopeds grace the next series of smaller acrylic on panel paintings.
Acrylic on panel (16″x9″)
Acrylic on panel (16″x9″)
Acrylic on panel (16″x9″)
The three awesome Kit Kat Dancer Practicing paintings are next in this exhibition review. These dancers, presumably, are from the Kit Kat club in the musical Cabaret.
Acrylic on panel (10″x23″)
Acrylic on panel (10″x23″)
Acrylic on panel (10″x23″)
Artist proof serigraph prints of four large paintings were also exhibited. The brilliant 19-color Predators and Prey is from April 2012, and the 18-color Peter Seller’s The Party homage The Holmby Hills, 10:00 pm is from March 2011.
19 Color Serigraph – 11/30 AP (53″x21″)
18 Color Serigraph – 17/20 AP (53″x21″)
The next two artist proofs are the 20-color serigraph The Relentless Party from 2010, and the 20-color serigraph The Secret Cul-De-Sac from 2009.
20 Color Serigraph – 19/20 AP (53″x20″)
20 Color Serigraph – 19/20 AP (53″x20″)
The following eight photographs are of the Thursday’s Girl gallery installation and exhibition opening. Note that the majority of the images from this post are sourced from the Jonathan LeVine Gallery website.
Seen Again
Velvet Study auctioned in 2016:
2 Comments
accede / March 10, 2018 at 5:51 am
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Tiki Pete / April 18, 2018 at 8:09 am
Thanks for your comment, it is great to hear from fellow fans of Shag’s work.
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