  We prove that for any affine variety S defined over Q there exist Shephard
and Artin groups G such that a Zariski open subset U of S is biregular
isomorphic to a Zariski open subset of the character variety Hom(G,
PO(3))//PO(3). The subset U contains all real points of S . As an application
we construct new examples of finitely-presented groups which are not
fundamental groups of smooth complex algebraic varieties.
