An 8-cd box set of solo recordings by shaw produced during, and just after, the period of his involvement with the early improvisational incarnation of the proto-noise band Destroy All Monsters. there guitar assaults, tape cut-ups, and loop experiments are guaranteed to turn your mind to jelly.
Jim Shaw is an atypical figure in California’s art circles, sharing with Paul McCarthy and Mike Kelley the same desire to produce a visual body of work aimed at exploring the dark side of an American society that is conformist and standardized.
Jim Shaw draws his inspiration from a vernacular culture on this side of the pigeonholes established by art history: pictures by amateur artists unearthed in bric-à-brac stores, popular cult objects, comics, rock music, B movies, etc.