NIGHT OF THE TIKI: THE ART OF SHAG,SCHMALTZ AND SELECTED PRIMITIVE OCEANIC CARVINGS represents a genuine high-water mark in the current Polynesian revival, bringing the best of present and past tiki Americana and art together with selected pieces of indigenous Oceania.

The spirit of tiki present is delivered through the work of Shag, one of the most popular painters an the scene today. Shag's minimalist,highly stylized works blend haunting tikis and mythical moai with '60s jet-set imagery and Late Show science. The result is a swinger's landscape where exotica reigns supreme.

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NIGHT OF THE TIKI:THE ART OF SHAG, SCHMALTZ AND SELECTED PRIMITIVE OCEANIC CARVINGS explores the work of Shag, America's hippest neo-tiki artist, Leroy Schmaltz, the granddaddy of 1950's tiki Americana, and the authentic Oceanic art that influenced them both. This book serves as the catalogue for an exhibition of the same name which seeks to illuminate traditional tiki culture through the display of primitive anthropomorphic carvings and to show, through the work of Shag and Leroy Schmaltz, how these artists have taken tiki to new levels.

Schmaltz's carved icons have tikified hotels, restaurants, bars and                             

IJ I II  Iapartment buildings across the country for decades. In 1956, he and his partner Bob Van Oosting founded Oceanic Arts, an Oceanic art emporium outside of Los Angeles. Together they designed South Seas paraphernalia for everything from Hollywood sets to legendary restaurants and bars.Their most famous installations include Disneyland's Enchanted Tiki Room, the thatched-roof scenery of Gilligan's Island and the Vietnam village set used for the film Forrest Gump.

More recently, Schmaltz has influenced a new generation of tiki provocateurs, most notably Shag,who has brought American-style tiki to a new maturity. His latest work blends piety and irreverence for a concoction that is equally comfortable on Paul Frank T-shirts and hallowed gallery walls. Taking inspiration from traditional Polynesian, Melanesian and Micronesian art, he transforms Polynesian iconography into futuristic cocktail-lounge motifs. You might say that Shag puts his spirits on the rocks.

The exhibition, Night of the Tiki: The Art of Shag, Schmaltz and Selected Oceanic Carvings, is curated by Greg Escalante and Douglas A. Nason,founders of Copro/Nason Gallery. This catalogue features more than 150 color plates, with essays by Jeff Fox and Doug Harvey.

Introduction: Tiki Redefined

Douglas A. Nason

Tiki Evolution

Jeff Fox

Gone Primitive

Doug Harvey

The Plates

Selected Oceanic Carvings

Polynesia

Melanesia

Leroy Schmaltz

Shag

Biographies

Selected Bibliography