H.R. Giger

Hans Rudolf "Ruedi" Giger (/ˈɡiːɡər/; February 5, 1940 – May 12, 2014) was a Swiss surrealist painter, sculptor and set designer. He was part of the special effects team that won an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Visual Effects for their design work on the film Alien. He was named to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2013. I was sad to hear about Giger's passing a few weeks ago and decided to put an homage piece together for him the minute I heard of the bad news. Like many artist, his work was a great influence and source of inspiration for me. It is not an easy feat to be original in this day and age, but Giger was able to transcend the norm and be a real pioneer in his art form. He inspired outside of his genre, everything from film makers to graffiti and tattoo artist, to architects, and the list goes on. On 12 May 2014, Giger died in a hospital in Zürich after having suffered injuries in a fall. In a New York Times obituary, Timothy Leary, a friend of Giger's, was quoted as having praised the artist by saying, "Giger's work disturbs us, spooks us, because of its enormous evolutionary time span. It shows us, all too clearly, where we come from and where we are going." Giger started with small ink drawings before progressing to oil paintings. For most of his career, Giger had worked predominantly in airbrush, creating monochromatic canvasses depicting surreal, nightmarish dreamscapes. Giger's most distinctive stylistic innovation was that of a representation of human bodies and machines in a cold, interconnected relationship, he described as "biomechanical". His main influences were painters Ernst Fuchs and Salvador Dalí. Giger suffered from night terrors and his paintings are all to some extent inspired by his experiences with that particular sleep disorder. He studied interior and industrial design at the School of Commercial Art in Zurich (from 1962 to 1965) and made his first paintings as a means of art therapy. Apparently he must have thought curing his night terrors would include giving them to someone else, mainly his audience :) He is most known for his work on the movies Aliens and Species, and being the father of the "biomechanical style of art and tattoo style. Below is my homage to this amazing talent followed by a picture of the artist, and some of his incredible timeless work. My condolences to his family and friends. May he Rest in Peace. His work will live on forever. Thanks for stopping by, Enjoy!!!!!