Chuck Varga (also known as Sexecutioner), a founding member of GWAR, is now confronting a fight against cancer. The band and their wider community have responded by launching a countrywide blood donation campaign for Varga. You can donate blood here.
Fans and supporters are encouraged to find a nearby blood bank, sign up as donors or contribute blood, and personally dedicate that donation to Varga. The participants will get an exclusive T-shirt which is designed by Varga.
The band made the following statement:
“Chuck Varga is an American sculptor, set designer, and Rockstar best known as a founding member of the theatrical shock-rock band GWAR and creator of the character Sexecutioner. Varga (b. 1958, Virginia) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans sculpture, scenic painting, special effects, comic art, and performance.
“After studying at Virginia Commonwealth University in the early 1980s, he co-founded Slave Pit Studios in Richmond, Virginia, where he helped develop GWAR, an art-driven, costume-heavy rock project that grew out of a group of college artists and musicians experimenting with film, comics, and performance.
“Within GWAR, Varga created and performed the character Sexecutioner, contributing to eight major touring productions, a gold record, and over a thousand shows across the United States and Europe, while also co-authoring two feature-length films including the Grammy-nominated ‘Phallus in Wonderland,’ and designing costumes, sets, props, and comic-book narratives for the band’s extended universe.
“Varga describes himself as ‘one part performer, one part designer and one part sculptor,’ reflecting an x-rated aesthetic that merges pulp science fiction, underground comics, and dark humor into large-scale, ‘eye-popping’ practical effects, sculptures and live performances.
“In 1997 Chuck left the band to work on Broadway, Film and Television in NYC. He would occasionally perform with the band and finally retired on Halloween Scumdog Reunion 2021. Along the way, he befriended the likes of Joe Coleman and Robert Williams and many other outsider artists.
“Varga met his soon-to-be wife Bambi the Mermaid at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade. It was love at first sight, and the two were married there in 2017. He merged his absurdist theatre with her neo-burlesque performances and became a staple at the legendary not-for-profit arts organization Coney Island USA where he reigned as resident Neptune.
“Varga divides his time between fine art and underground theater projects, continuing to evolve the blend of spectacle, satire, and handcrafted fantasy that defined his GWAR years with a delightfully unwholesome splash of Neo-burlesque charm.”
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Photo courtesy of GWAR
