Video History Project

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Charles Varga

Born 1958 in Charlottesville, Virginia, a small Ivy League college town in the middle of a Southern relic, Chuck Varga was instilled at an early age with 'highbrow academia' and 'lowbrow schlock.' Shakespeare to Stan Lee, Catholic schools to Kiss concerts, the Chess Club to Dungeons and Dragons were the rocky extremes that shaped his love/hate interest in art. In an attempt to resolve this conflict, he attended Virginia Commonwealth University, confident that a degree in Art History would fuse his aesthetics and galvanize his gestalt.

Though educated in classical and modern art, Varga became disgusted with the elitist disdain the art world held for popular culture and vice versa. Emerging four years later in 1982 with chip firmly on shoulder, he vowed to fight back. So, in 1985, Varga joined with a group of like-minded individuals and formed the theatrical rock band, GWAR. GWAR is more than a mere musical prodigy, they are a multimedia atrocity. Slave Pit, Inc. is the name for the communal group of artists who developed the concepts and narrative of the GWAR mystique.

Varga wrote and designed over a dozen graphic stories for the GWAR comic book, The Slave Pit Funnies. He also collaborated on scripts for eight major productions that toured the US and Europe in over one thousand live shows, and co-authored two feature length films: the Grammy nominated Phallus in Wonderland and SkullHedFace featuring Jello Biafra and Sebastian Bach. In 1997, Varga moved to New York City and currently divides his time between working as a special effects artist and writing and producing underground absurdist performance art.

Cite this record

"Charles Varga." Video History Project, Experimental Television Center, 2011. https://www.videohistoryproject.org/charles-varga.

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Summary

Born 1958 in Charlottesville, Virginia, Chuck Varga studied Art History at Virginia Commonwealth University and was educated in classical and modern art; he rejected elitist disdain toward popular culture. In 1985 he co-founded GWAR and the communal artist group Slave Pit, Inc., wrote over a dozen stories for the GWAR comic and collaborated on eight productions that toured internationally. He co-authored the feature films Phallus in Wonderland (Grammy nominated) and SkullHedFace; in 1997 he moved to New York City and currently divides his time between special effects work and writing and producing underground absurdist performance art.

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Last modified 18 June 2011

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