Gears of War
Kurt Wenner · E3 Expo, Los Angeles, USA · 2006
Photo: Kurt Wenner (image library no. 63), as published on Street Art Utopia (30 December 2010).
Armoured, clawed creatures haul themselves out of a pit that seems to open in the floor of a games expo. Kurt Wenner drew it for Microsoft to promote the Xbox game Gears of War at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles in May 2006. Source Source Source Checked
Seen May 2006: a Reuters photograph published on 9 May 2006 shows Wenner at work on the drawing on the expo floor. It was a promotional piece for a trade show, and we found no record of where it went afterwards. Source Checked
💡 5 things to know
- An Xbox commissionWenner’s own image library lists the work as “Gears of War”, client Microsoft X-Box, location Los Angeles, California. Source Checked
- Drawn live at E3A Reuters photo caption published by 20minutos on 9 May 2006 shows the artist working on the floor, drawing an illustration of the game. Engadget reported the mural on the E3 2006 show floor two days earlier. Source Source Checked
- Filmed as it grewEngadget saw a camera taking periodic shots of the work in progress so the process could be animated into a montage; Wenner’s résumé says a video was produced of the drawing in progress. Source Source Checked
- A second life in shopsThe résumé says the work was prepared as a floor graphic and point of sale advertisement. Source Checked
- Made on canvasAn article collected on the artist’s site says that, like the painting he created for Gears of War, most of his recent commissioned works are painted on canvas. Source Reported
📍 Where it was
At the E3 Expo in Los Angeles, California, in May 2006. The sources name the city and the expo but not a spot inside the hall, so the button opens a map of Los Angeles. Source Source Checked
🗓️ Sightings
- 20067 May
Engadget: the mural in progress on the E3 floor
- 20069 May
Reuters photo: Wenner drawing it at E3
- 201212 May
GamingNow recalls the 2006 E3 drawing
Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark records or reports; red stamps mark loss. Publication dates are not camera dates.
🗞️ In the sources
“El artista Kurt Wenner trabaja en el suelo dibujando una ilustración del videojuego ‘Gears of War’.”
Translated: The artist Kurt Wenner works on the floor drawing an illustration of the video game Gears of War. Photo: Chris Pizzello / Reuters.
“The guy above is currently sketching a large mural for Xbox 360’s Gears of War, currently on display at the E3 2006 show floor.”
Ross Miller, Engadget.
“Wenner’s illusionistic painting for Xbox’s new game Gears of War was a huge hit with gaming fans at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles.”
From the artist’s own résumé.
✅ The facts
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All sources & image credits
- kurtwenner.com: Image library (no. 63, Gears of War)
- kurtwenner.com: Résumé highlights (PDF)
- kurtwenner.com: collected articles (PDF)
- 20minutos.es: E3: lo último en videojuegos (9 May 2006), Reuters photo by Chris Pizzello
- engadget.com: E3: The Gears of War mural (7 May 2006)
- gamingnow.info: Amazing Gears of War Chalk Painting by Kurt Wenner at E3 (12 May 2012)
- Image: Gears of War, photo by Kurt Wenner (kurtwenner.com image library no. 63), as published on Street Art Utopia (30 December 2010); a 16:9 share image was made from it.
Last checked: 1 November 2026. How we verify art