Almost Tiki Famous

I make Tiki "art" under the name Woofmutt. I don't really think of what I make as art, I call it "stuff and junk like that." I make cartoony stuff and stuff that looks like it might've been made during the golden age of Tiki (50s into the 70s) and junk that has a vintage look. All things that can help average Joes and Janes create their own private fabulous Tiki environment.

In 2010 I made several sculptures that I wanted to look like decorative pieces one might find in a late 50s hip home. In the mid 20th century there were artists and crafters who made pieces that weren't imitations of or particularly inspired by actual native art but their work was meant to be "primitive."

I posted pictures of my work on Tiki Central. I sold some of the work in sales in Seattle, a few pieces had interest from out of town buyers but I wasn't interested in shipping the work at the time so those sales were pending. (Still are. Oops)

Two years later, in 2011, I got an email from Sven Kirsten, author of truly exceptional books The Book of Tiki and Tiki Modern. I was acquainted with Sven from Tiki Central. Sven was curating an art show at M Modern Gallery in Palm Springs and had sent out a call to artists explaining what the focus of the show was:


"This exhibition pays homage to the enduring relationship between primitivism and modernism in the 20th Century. Not only was the inception of modern art inspired by the tribal arts, but beginning in the 50s, it became en vogue to juxtapose modernist environs with “primitive” carvings and wallhangings. One could even speak of a form of “anti-modernism”, the need to balance the antiseptic, clean lines of modern design with objects from the other end of the art spectrum, thus forming a Yin and Yang of esthetics.

"The artists for this show are invited to play with either: The modernist simplicity and stylization that some examples of tribal art display, OR (and) its brutalist “otherness” and naivite as seen from the Western view. We are looking for striking single pieces, paintings or sculpture. Basically something that makes a statement in the many modernist living rooms or backyards in Palm Springs and Southern California.

"Attached are some examples of what I am looking for..."

 Sven included seven images in the email. One of the images was the photo I'd posted on Tiki Central of my 2010 sculpture Oh One.

Neither my name or the title of the piece was mentioned.  Oh One was just identified as "Cartoon modern."

For a couple of reasons, the main ones being distance (I live in Seattle and the show was in Palm Springs) and not regarding my stuff as actual art, I declined the invitation for submissions. I thanked Sven for considering me and noted he was the second person who got that I was attempting to make pieces that felt like "serious" work from mid-century artist and crafters who were making "primitive" pieces which had no basis in their culture and which weren't copies of the other culture's work.

Sven replied with a request that I participate in the show, I replied with a thank you and declined.

A month later, on 1/20/12, I got an email from Sven with "Apology" in the subject line. In the email Sven wrote:

"As I sent out my call and prompts for the artists for my show, I attached several examples of mod art to illustrate what I had in mind for the show. I picked some pieces from my collection, and various from current artists - with one of yours among them.

"Well, unbeknownst to me, Mr. J. Agle apparently liked these examples so much that he picked five of them for the ad that M-Modern put into the Modernism Show catalogue.  YOUR piece was among them. I am sorry that you were not asked for permission, and I hope you don't mind.

"There is really not much to do, the ad is being printed as we speak. All the pieces on it are not gonna be in the show."

He included an attachment...
 

The J. Agle rendering of my sculpture Oh One is second from the left in the top illustration.

I assumed the J. Agle Sven mentioned in his email was someone who did promos for M Modern gallery and I just shrugged off the fact that my work had been used in an ad. I've never been someone who worried about his stuff being copied by others.

Then, another month later, on 2/17/12, I got another email from Sven with "Well I'll be!" in the subject line:

"Ahem....It appears that Mr. Agle, unknowing of the origins, elected your piece to be in the art work he created for my show! This is just an assumption based on today's e-mail (below) since I have not been to the show yet nor had any contact about it with Josh.

"MY name for this piece will be "The Reluctant Artist" from here on ! I think you should do a post on this whole affair on Tiki Central - or, if you allow, I would do one (in a most respectful manner of course) once I get back from this weekend. It works in sort of a "Banksy" way.  :)

"Your embarrassed curator Sven"

Sven included an announcement from M Modern Gallery about The Contemporary Idol, the show he'd curated. In that announcement was an image of J. Agle's painting for the show. When I saw the painting I instantly recalled the J. Agle was the hipster world famous SHAG.

I really wasn't annoyed at SHAG, he probably assumed the images Sven had sent out in his original call for artists were of vintage pieces by unknown artists. 

I was a bit annoyed at Sven's blunder mainly because he's a creative person, an author, and one would think that proper attribution would be of great importance to a creative person. But my years on the Internet has shown me that even creative people frequently share or use images or words without giving credit to the creators of the images and words. 

After a thinking about it for a bit I sent an email to Jay Nailor, the owner of M Modern Gallery, on 3/8/12. I included images of SHAG's work and my piece, including one side-by-side...

In the letter I wrote: 

"Even though it was done without my permission I actually don't have an issue with my work being used in the two examples cited (a promotion for your gallery and an original painting by SHAG).  It's not like it ended up on a t-shirt at Target or a pet food label.

"I genuinely believe it was not done intentionally and probably wouldn't have happened at all if the original email requesting artwork had included proper attributions for the images included. I think this oversight on Sven's part had more to do with his enthusiasm for the show he was curating than an indifference to proper citation. 

"Though a lot of people who make stuff would be screaming bloody murder about this sort of thing I actually found it amusing, especially as I know quite a few people who are major fans of SHAG's work but who have never even cast their eye in the direction of my work. But I've only mentioned the "SHAGMutt" incident to a few close friends. To me it's not really a big issue but it seems like something you should be aware of."


(I mentioned the pet food label because in 2008 SHAG (Josh Agle Inc) sued Petropics over copyright infringement. I don't know what the claim was but I assume it was due to Petropics labels looking too much like SHAG artwork.)

On 3/8/12 Jay Nailor replied:

"Cool Image, Sven never mentioned it to us.  Would have been nice to see a piece from you for the show as it was crazy busy that evening (500 - 800 people).  Maybe some other time."

As I said in my email to Jay Nailor my work's inclusion in a SHAG painting was no big deal as it wasn't an item that was being mass produced.

Except just this very day I discovered the image of my work is in a piece that's been mass produced...



 $225 a pop. I figure without the image of my work these pieces would only be worth $205.Or something like that.

The upside of all this, besides being almost Tiki famous, is I never actually sold the original sculpture. The price on Oh One had been around $30. But now I figure it's worth a bit more...

$20 X 200 limited edition prints 
+ 10% of the $7,500 price for the SHAG original
+ the original $30 asking price
= $4,780




Thanks, Sven!














 

Seattle's Polynesia Restaurant

The Seattle Times September 3, 1961 

The Polynesia, new $500,000 restaurant on Pier 51, is like a prologue to a romantic poem, with every word and every syllable in the right place. 

The materials and the motif go together in creating a South Seas atmosphere in a beautiful setting on Puget Sound. The high peaked 'long house' design with its interior walls of polished matched teakwood and grass cloth, the deeply carved beams and banquettes, the rattan chairs and the carved figures all have a Polynesian flavor. 

Raymond H. Peck, the architect, who designed the restaurant, chose his central theme from the markings of ceremonial shields, canoe prows, and art of Tahiti, the Philippine Islands and Pago Pago. 

Peck used lava rock from the big island of Hawaii, precious woods from the Far East, coral and tree ferns (hapu), art carvings, sea shells, and hand-woven materials. 
The heavy posts and beams, all carved, are more than 50 years old. They were taken from the building razed to make way for the restaurant. They were carved with theme designs created by Peck. 

The carving was done by Donald Keys and Donald Ingalls, Seattle artists. The markings on the post and beams are repeated in the china. A ceremonial shield design, taken from an authentic Marquesas shield found in a museum, is used as the cover for the menu. 

A spiral fireplace in the main dining room rises from a reflecting pool on the floor to a black metal hood in the ceiling. The spiral is made of pipe, perforated to produce dozens of small open flames. 

Three Tahitian Torches will mark the entrance. 

The banquettes were carved by Witco of Mt Vernon, a company which specializes in the carving of darkened cedar. A life-size Tiki figure, in the hallway, was carved in Manila of monkey pod. Solid teak door pulls and a door panel were made by Keys and Ingalls. 

Transparencies with Tahitian emblems laminated in plastic by Fay Chong, Pacific Northwest artist, mark the front on view side of the restaurant. 

There is a modern air to the building, with its wide window walls taking in the broad sweep of Puget Sound and Seattle to the north and south. 

A menu has been created to go along with the setting...(The restaurant) will feature lunch and dinner. It also has a cocktail lounge. 

(Owner) Dave Cohn has engaged Anita Moore, a former resident of Tahiti, to inform guests on the customs and art of the Polynesians. 





The Polynesia Restaurant (called the Poly by locals) remained at Pier 51 (which was also owned by David Cohn) until the state condemned the Pier around 1981 in order to expand the Seattle ferry terminal.

The Polynesia closed around May of 1981 and all of it's interior fixtures and furnishings were removed. Cohn looked for another location to physically move the Polynesia but zoning restrictions blocked his efforts.

"I'm just sick," Cohn said in a 1981 newspaper article, "I'd go anyplace. We've been kicked out of our own property by the state...and nobody will help us relocate...no one seems to care."

On the morning of January 25th, 1982 just after high tide, the entire Polynesia Restaurant was lifted in one piece off of Pier 51 by a large floating crane. Acocrding to a newspaper report the Polynesia was "placed on a barge and towed to a site on the Duwamish River while the owners search for a new location." 

Unfortunately a new location was never found. According to David Cohn the problem was the size of the Polynesia and zoning restrictions for available locations. Sometime after the Polynesia's mothballing Cohn gave up and let the Seattle Fire Department burn the structure for practice.

David Cohn died in 2003 at the age of 85 but the restaurant business he started is still going strong. It includes major Seattle area restaurants such as the Metropolitan and Elliot's.

In 2002 I spoke to Cohn on the telephone. Of the Polynesia's origins Cohn said he had taken architect Raymond Peck to Pier 51 and said "Hey Ray, I want to build a Polynesian restaurant at this site and I can't even spell the word."

Cohn spoke very fondly of the restaurant and the staff that worked there. Over 20 years after the Polynesia's closing it was obvious the Cohn still felt sad about losing the restaurant. I got the feeling that the Polynesia was really special to him.

Cohn said when the Polynesia was closed some of the Polynesia's fixtures were moved to some of his other restaurants but he couldn't recall what happened to the bulk of the interior.



(This piece was originally written in 2010 and posted on Tiki Central. You can see numerous images of the Polynesia Restaurant and items from it HERE.)