GWAR announce massive retrospective gallery in Los Angeles

Few bands have quite so much stuff to look at as GWAR. Over four decades, the intergalactic beasts have been heading onstage with all manner of weapons, torture devices, oversized wangs and God knows what else, and spraying audiences with more blood than could ever actually fit in the body of whoever they've just decapitated. And then there's the jizz...

Such things are worth celebrating, obviously. This autumn, LA art collective and gallery Beyond The Streets will host LET THERE BE GWAR, an exhibition of GWARtefacts dating all the way back to the bands roots in 1984 when Virginia student filmmaker Hunter Jackson teamed up with Dave Brockie (Oderus Urungus, who passed away in 2014) for a movie he was making.

The exhibition will include handcrafted costumes, instruments, weaponry, and stage props, video installations, monumental set pieces and spew tanks, artwork and much more. Best of all, there's a monster toilet.

“For 40 years GWAR have mounted a misanthropic critique of American culture dressed up as shock rock," say the band. "This collection of artefacts offers a sense of the unique punk inspired anti-art aesthetics of underground comics, science fiction fandom, role-playing games, and satirical splatter flick nerdishness at the heart of the band.”

“This isn’t just a music exhibition,” says curator Roger Gastman. “GWAR represents one of the most successful long-term art collectives in American culture, and their influence on both underground and mainstream entertainment is undeniable. They came to destroy... and ended up creating something eternal.”

On top of all this, as well as their recent The Return Of Gor Gor multimedia set, they're also releasing a co-branded collection with Beyond The Streets. This will have a new and expanded version of the sold out 400-page book – LET THERE BE GWAR that comes with a limited edition 7” record, a collection book of the band's Mind Control Monthly newsletter, clothes, art prints and more.

LET THERE BE GWAR runs at Beyond The Streets in LA from September 13 – November 2, with free entry

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