SHARK TOOF takes an in-depth look at the ambitious and versatile street artist Shark Toof, best known for his emblematic visual calling card: a wheat pasted, hand drawn shark head, which the artist describes as the "perfect culmination of all my angst, protest, strength and optimism." Like a graffiti tag, Shark Toof has established the image as a kind of logo, deeply synonymous with the spirit and subtext of his body of work. Calling to mind the fictionalized and fantastic stylized gore of old horror movies or underground comix, Shark Toof's apocalyptic world is graced with a sublime and dark beauty. Using acrylic, spray paint, and house paint on distressed or reclaimed wood, Shark Toof's bold, brash lines conveys a kind of frenzied, graphic energy and chiaroscuro reminiscent of German Expressionism wood block prints and graphic pulp novels alike.

About Shark Toof

Shark Toof currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Solo and group shows in 2010 include Baker's Dozen, Fountain Art Fair, Miami; Dreams Deferred, Chinese American Museum of Los Angeles; Duality, CB Gallery, Los Angeles; Marxist Glue, Hold Up Art, Los Angeles; Small Gift Sanrio 50th Anniversary, Barker Hanger, Los Angeles; Sugi Pop, Portsmouth Museum of Art, New Hampshire; Unfaithful Forever, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery; Dead Letter Playground, Leo Kesting Gallery, New York; Viva Lost Wages, Joseph Watson Collection, Las Vegas; MAYDAY, Barracuda, Los Angeles and Crazy 4 Cult, Gallery 1988, Los Angeles. Shark Toof graduated from Pasadena Art Center College of Design with a BFA in Illustration in 1998.

About Shana Nys Dambrot
LA CANVAS Arts (and Books) Editor Shana Nys Dambrot is an art critic, curator, and author based in Los Angeles. Her writing has appeared in publications including the LA Weekly, Artkrush, Daily Dose, Bluecanvas, Modern Painters, Art Review, Artweek, ArtLtd, ARTnews, The Believer, tema celeste, Angeleno, Art Asia Pacific, Coagula, and Juxtapoz. She was the Managing Editor at Flavorpill.com until late 2010, and is currently LA Editor for Whitehot Magazine. Her monthly culture column, Urban Scrawl, lives at Createfixate.com, and a full account of her activities is periodically updated at sndx.net.

Technical Specs

• Hardcover
• 12.25 x 8.25" (31.1 x 21cm)
• 84 pages
• 98 color plates
• Edition of 1,000
• ISBN 978-1-937222-10-9
• Released date: July 2012
• Designed by Fontana Studios
• $40.00

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