This month we lost H.R. Giger. The Swiss artist was the genius behind some of the most iconic screen monsters of the age. Mario Costas looks back at an interesting life.
When the cast of Alien were preparing for their roles, director Ridley Scott asked them to pay a visit to the designer of the creature so they could be prepared. Once they arrived at his office, his assistant offered them a glass of whiskey each. The then unknown Sigourney Weaver refused the offer and entered his office. The Alien which would go on to haunt our nightmares was revealed and Weaver burst out of the office reaching for the whole bottle of whiskey she refused earlier. This is all on the dvd extras for those who don’t believe. Then again, do you find that hard to believe? I mean look at them. What type of lunatic would come up with such horrid creatures? H.R Giger that’s who.
Born in Switzerland in 1940, Giger pronounced Geeger, would become one of the most influential artists to date. After studying architecture and industrial design Giger worked as a furniture designer for a short while before quitting, so he could focus his energy on his artwork. Through Salvador Dali who was a close friend, he would meet director Alexandro Jodoworsky who would hire him for concept art on his film Dune. After Dune went nowhere, Ridley Scott hired Giger after viewing his first published collection of art pieces, Necronomicon which featured the infamous Alien although slightly different, it had eyes for starters and his head was more or less a massive penis. Did I mention his art has a lot of weird erotica, as well as surrealism, biomechanical (something he termed) horror and so on. Needless to say most of his artwork stemmed from his own nightmares.
After the success of Alien and winning an Academy Award for his work, Giger would also work with musicians and other artists alike, most notably the microphone stand belonging to singer Jonathan Davis of Korn. Some more of Giger’s works could be seen in later films such as Species and Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis. Later in life he would go on to open The Giger bars. Two of which are located in Switzerland, one in the U.S and another in Tokyo. The latter two closed but the other two remain. The bars are modelled around his biomechanical art, most notably Alien, with spines lined up along the ceilings and walls, Alien-like high back chairs and so on. There had been talks of opening another Giger bar in the U.S but sadly sometime last week he suffered a fall and on Monday the 13th of May he passed away leaving behind a rich and influential legacy.
All I can say is, we have lost a true great, but his works and influence will live on whether it’s through film, collection or art books or through the future generations of artists that he has inspired and will inspire, myself included.
Hans Rudolf “Ruedi” Giger we salute you.
