ARTIST ICA COMMISSION PROFILE DECLARATION APRIL 21st – SEPTEMBER 9th ICAVCU.ORG #DECLARATION #ICAVCU Installation view, Declaration of GWAR, Institute for Contemporary Art, Richmond, Virginia, 2018. Photo: Terry Brown GWAR The figures in, Declaration of GWAR, a new installation ON VIEW N created for the ICA, enact a scene that has played out at Declaration of GWAR, 2018 many GWAR concerts: a staged conflict between Mixed-media installation including “protesters” and members of the legendary Richmond- costumes and ephemera based metal band. GWAR was formed by musicians and former VCUarts students who created alter-egos, Courtesy of the artists O performing as hyper-masculine alien invaders bent on LOCATION destroying the world. While wearing grotesque, elaborately I 2nd Floor Landing handmade costumes they enact satirically violent and evenhandedly offensive attacks on all kinds of norms and RELATED PROGRAM institutions, from art school to the church to the political TOPIC TOUR: T status quo. The backdrop is covered with copies of vintage DECLARATION OF GWAR and recent ephemera from GWAR’s archive. August 25, 2018, 1pm Visit ICAVCU.ORG for dates, event A details and ticketing information. All events are free and open to the public MOBILE TOUR R icavcu.org/exhibtions/ declaration/#mobile- tour A L Installation view, Declaration of GWAR, detail, Institute for Contemporary Art, Richmond, Virginia, 2018. C E D ARTIST PROFILE GWAR is angry at the state of the world, angry at America, angry INTERVIEW at Art! We mistook this new building as a spacecraft for us to escape Earth with! This is the only reason we are here! —GWAR WHAT MOTIVATES YOU AS DO YOU BELIEVE ART HAS SOCIALLY ARTISTS? TRANSFORMATIVE POWER? DEATH! We believe in the transformative power N of death! Death to life! Death to Art!! ARE THERE DETAILS ABOUT THE WORK YOU’RE SHOWING IN DECLARATION THAT YOU’D ESPECIALLY LIKE AUDIENCES TO PAY O ATTENTION TO? I We present a bloody tableau wherein the noble Scumdog warriors defeat the oppressive forces of Religion, Military, and T Politics! A R A L C E Installation view, Declaration of GWAR, Institute for Contemporary Art, Richmond, Virginia, 2018. Photo: Terry Brown D ARTIST PROFILE BIOGRAPHY Fans at a GWAR concert. Image courtesy of the artists Richmond, Virginia, EST. 1984–Current Current members: N Michael Bishop (Blothar) (2014–present) Mike Derks (Balsac the Jaws of Death) (1988–present) Brad Roberts (Jizmak Da Gusha) (1989–present) Jamison Land (Beefcake the Mighty) (2011–present) O Brent Purgason (Pustulus Maximus) (2012–present) Bob Gorman (Bonesnapper)(1995–1996, 2014–present) I Matt Maguire (Sawborg Destructo)(1995-1996, 2009–present) Sleazy P. Martini (Don Drakulich) (1985–present) T GWAR is a Richmond based heavy metal band composed of a rotating cast of artists, musicians, and filmmakers. The collective was founded in 1984 with a thematic concept based on an elaborate science-fiction mythology, which claims that the band members are barbaric interplanetary warriors. Their music is known for its violent, sexual, and scatological humor, as well A as its social and political satire. Select Discography: Hell-O (1988); Scumdogs of the Universe (1994); Ragnarok (1995); Carnival R of Chaos (1997); America Must Be Destroyed (1992); Violence Has Arrived (2001); Beyond Hell (2006); Lust in Space (2009); Battle Maximus (2013). Film: Mystery Date (1990). Select television and film appearances: Beavis and Butt-head (1994), Empire Records (1995), The Joan Rivers Show (1997), Kids Next Door (2004). A L C E D.