Above: Shag at the Walsh Street Robin Boyd House

US artist Shag (Josh Agle) is currently in Australia for Outré Gallery and a three city tour of Melbourne, Sydney and Perth with his all-new show the ‘Inscrutable Mystery Guide’. The exhibition highlights a whole new direction for Shag with darker overtones, more complex compositions and ultimately more surreal subject matter.

The exhibition draws its name from an exclusive and mysterious book that the artist has produced to accompany the paintings.

“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, colorful paintings of tikis, but each tiki bears a symbol.

“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.

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”. – Josh Agle aka Shag

In addition to hosting a series of gala openings across Melbourne, Sydney and Perth, Outré organized a very special Saturday night cocktail party.

I was very fortunate to be invited to attend and photograph Outré Gallery’s ‘Mid-Century Soiree’ for US artist Shag at the Robin Boyd Foundation’s Walsh Street house. The party was a celebration of astounding Melbourne mid-century architecture and a wonderful opportunity to have drinks with Shag, his fans and the Outré crew.

It was truly a magical evening even if I usually feel like a fish-out-of-water at any party – let alone one which looked like it featured the entire cast of Mad Men and/or Rosemary’s Baby, but to walk through this breathtaking historical piece of modern architecture was truly amazing and a once in a lifetime experience.

Shag’s painting ‘Dickie Bird’ features the Robin Boyd house and it was indeed surreal to see the painting standing in all its glory in the very room it depicts.

Shag said he had only ever seen the famous house in photos and was pleasantly surprised that he managed to capture the essence of the house in his work.

The Walsh Street, South Yarra house was purchased by the Robin Boyd Foundation and was designed by Boyd for himself and his family in 1958. The home is widely acknowledged as one of Boyd’s best and a true architectural icon of the Twentieth century.

It was quite remarkable to walk through this home and experience the amazing interior and design first hand. I felt like I had walked onto the canvas of Shag’s painting and was completely immersed in this retro-wonderland. The house remains unchanged from the time it was first designed and occupied by the Boyd family in 1959.

Truly a magical night and one I am very grateful to have been invited to experience and photograph.