RIP H.R. Giger
Giger’s often disturbing, sometimes erotic, invariably stunning drawings, paintings, and sculptures portrayed a grim, “biomechanical” alternate universe where most was in shades of blacks, greys, silvers, and whites, and consisted of a merging of machine and flesh. While you may not know his name, it’s very possible that you’ve encountered his dense, steely landscapes — or something which directly ripped them off — at one time or another.
He was born in Chur, Switzerland in 1940. He studied architecture and industrial design at Zurich’s School of Applied Arts. Heavily influenced by Salvador Dali and Ernst Fuchs, he took up painting and developed his distinctive freehand, airbrushed style.
If you were a teenager in the 70s, perhaps you know his cover art to Emerson, Lake, and Palmer’s Brain Salad Surgery l.p., or perhaps if you were a metalhead in the 80s, you know his cover for Celtic Frost’s To Mega Therion.
The H.R. Giger Museum in Gruyeres, Switzerland houses many of his greatest sculptures, drawings, and paintings; and is well worth the trip, should you ever find yourself in western Switzerland.
Photographs and videos featuring his gorgeous, chilling, surreal works can easily be sought out via the many links to be found upon his PeekYou profile. But proceed with the warning that the works are frequently “adult” in nature, and always a bit terrifying.
Below is an hour long documentary on Giger’s life and work.
And here’s a half-hour special about his work on 1979’s Alien: