Jester

Painter, illustrator and designer Josh “Shag” Agle is the master of sharp, swinging lounge aesthetic that embraces illustrative finesse, flat perspective, vivid colours and the type of subtle humour that has been described as addictive. He says, “Achieving the slick look of the commercial illustration and design from the '50s and '60s is something that really appeals to me. I take a lot of time trying to keep the paintings sharp and clean, and… working on the colour palettes… I'm just trying to make something that I'd like to look at myself!” The paintings are visually influenced by avant-garde animation of the early fifties and sixties (Terry Toon animated shorts when Gene Deitch headed the studio, Disney's educational short-subjects, beer & cigarette commercials) as well as generic advertising art of the same era (sci-fi pulp art, sixties clip art, etc.). His highly collectable paintings celebrate consumerism through depictions of characters who smoke, drink and socialise in fantasy settings. High profile fans of Shag include Seth Green (Dr Evil's son), Whoopi Goldberg, Ben Stiller, David Arquette who all have Shag originals in their collections. His paintings that are filled with references to popular culture from across the ages capture slices of intriguing momentsCreated out of an obsession for designer/art toys and collectables, Hong Kong based company Toy2r continues to break down the boundaries between product design, art and graphics. Mastermind Raymond Choy founded the company in 1995 where he took his dream of a once owned toy store known as ‘Toy R’ (short for Toy Raymond), which held countless quantitiesof limited edition toy collectables, and turned it into a internationally recognized company amongst the first to explore the potential of the designer/art toy movement. Ultimately, instilling contemporary art into the vinyl toy market we all know and love today. Toy2r is a multi-faceted company whose logo was taken from our most loved and cherished mascot, the ‘Toyer.’ In 2001 Raymond released the skull-headed figure alongside what was to become the most ubiquitous toy canvas in the world, the Qee keychain figure (Please see About Qee for further information). We take great pride in our determination at Toy2r to not only innovate but inspire artists’, designers’ and the world’s generation of youth alike. Our main objective is to provide limited/collectable designer/art toys at an affordable price, based on the coolest designs for the current international market. Toy2r has received numerous internationally renowned awards for our outstanding achievements;