Shag a to Z: A Blab! Storybook

Shag: A to Z presents, quite simply, 26 original paintings corresponding to the letters of the alphabet. Each painting is accompanied by a short verse extolling the pleasures of a hedonistic lifestyle and the virtues of overindulgence.

Shag: A to Z is the creation of Josh Agle, a painter and designer from Southern California who is probably better known by the name he signs on his paintings, "Shag." Shag has spent the last decade creating a body of work based on his idiomatic aesthetic preferences, a world of mid 20th century modern architecture and design, populated by hedonists, supplicants, and indifferent women. The paintings themselves celebrate consumerism and consumption on vividly colored, sharply rendered panels; the characters drink, smoke and eat in lavish, stylish surroundings. Since 1996 his work has been displayed in galleries and museums in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Australia.

Shag: A to Z is the latest Blab Storybook, a series showcasing sequential artists from Monte Beauchamp's annual BLAB anthology. Each volume is presented in a faux-children's book format, though aimed squarely at adults and young adults.