
‘Alien’ creator H.R. Giger is dead - lox
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/culture/Alien_creator_H.R._Giger_is_dead.html?cid=38569780
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tluyben2
RIP. He was a nice guy and a great artist, but the last years he was quite
disabled by (I think) a stroke and it was almost impossible to talk to him. My
friend used to visit him to discuss work they did together and I went with him
one time; he talked a few times with him after that stroke but it was never
the same. I was a big fan right after I saw Alien begin 80s and it was nice to
meet him while he was still producing art.

~~~
rasur
I was a big fan (had been since I first saw the images for Alien as an 11 year
old in the UK), however my wife (who is Swiss and knew his son, apparently) is
less of a fan of him as a person. I'll spare the details (since, in the
interest of fairness I cannot remember the whole story accurately and would
not want to mis-represent it in this forum) but yes.. like most people he had
his less than perfect moments.

But this should come as no surprise to anyone who's lived a bit. One can be
well respected for ones art, but be less respected (in some quarters) for how
one acts.

Regardless, I am saddened by the news. It is a great loss IMO.

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ThePhysicist
That's really sad. I just recently watched "Jodorowksy's Dune"
([http://jodorowskysdune.com/](http://jodorowskysdune.com/)), a documentary on
the planned but never realized "Dune" movie by Alejandro Jodorowsky, for which
H.R. Giger did a lot of artwork and which features an interview with him in
his home in Switzerland. If you look at the designs that Giger did for this
movie, you can already see the "Alien" style all over it.

~~~
jasonlaramburu
The Baron's castle in Jodorowsky's Dune looks amazing and terrifying. RIP
Giger

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mgw
If you're ever in Switzerland and a fan of H.R. Giger, you should check out
his great museum in Gruyère. [1] Additionally, the idyllic mountain village is
well worth a visit on its own.

[1] [http://www.hrgigermuseum.com/](http://www.hrgigermuseum.com/)

~~~
andykellr
I was there with my wife in November and in one small town you have mountains,
a castle, cheese, a Tibet museum, and aliens. His art was far more provocative
than I anticipated. I thought it was funny that there was an adults-only room.
Some could argue that nearly everything belonged in there. Across from the
museum is an amazing bar that he designed. You should go there.

~~~
Gmo
I did visit Gruyère but I did not visit the museum. I did visit the bar though
and I also recommend it, in particular for the chairs ;)

That said, I thought it was very funny to have this museum in the middle of
this (small) medieval town.

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elecengin
My favorite H.R. Giger story was from when he met the rock band Emerson Lake
and Palmer and agreed to do the album art for Brain Salad Surgery. The album
name - innuendo for a sex act - inspired an equally sexual album cover. [1]
The original image was a futuristic woman with a penis covering her mouth.

The band loved it, but the record company refused to release the album. The
band, placed in a difficult position, petitioned to Geiger to adjust the
artwork. Geiger refused to bow to the band's and record company's demands, and
in the end the record company had to hire an airbrush artist to remove it as
much as possible... leading to the "shaft of light" along the neck.

[1]
[http://images.coveralia.com/audio/e/Emerson,_Lake_y_Palmer-B...](http://images.coveralia.com/audio/e/Emerson,_Lake_y_Palmer-
Brain_Salad_Surgery-Interior_Frontal.jpg?167) (SFW)

~~~
ppadron
This reminds me of Penis Landscape [1], a painting of his that was used by the
Dead Kennedys in the album Frankenchrist [2]. Jello Biafra was trialed for
distributing harmful material to minors, but was not convicted. He even went
to Oprah [3] to talk about it and confront Tipper Gore about censorship and
the PMRC.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penis_Landscape](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penis_Landscape)
(NSFW)

[2]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenchrist](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenchrist)

[3]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpUeo6wR7M4&list=PL0BD020825...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpUeo6wR7M4&list=PL0BD02082558BC33B)

~~~
negativity
Yup, it also kind of broke up the band, in a way... Check out this interview,
for some hindsight from Klaus Flouride:

[http://www.markprindle.com/flouride-i.htm](http://www.markprindle.com/flouride-i.htm)

East Bay Ray and D.H. Peligro don't speak quite as directly about the band's
break-up, but their interviews and perspective are interesting too:

[http://www.markprindle.com/peligro-i.htm](http://www.markprindle.com/peligro-i.htm)

[http://www.markprindle.com/east-i.htm](http://www.markprindle.com/east-i.htm)

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sbirchall
A truly unique talent. In memory, you should check out Aphex Twin's "Window
Licker" directed by Chris Cunningham (HN will probably be most familiar with
Bjork's "All is Full of Love" music video). A whole host of talent came
together there to make one of the most fucked up things you'll ever witness.
Suffice to say a big red _NSFW_ warning goes out on this one!

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MBaEEODzU0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MBaEEODzU0)

[EDIT: I mean _MOST DEFINITELY NOT SAFE FOR WORK!!!!_ ]

~~~
pavel_lishin
Huh, I didn't know that the face was based on Giger's work.

~~~
sbirchall
Me neither til I finally picked up a book on Giger and there's the
Windowlicker staring at me from the first page I flicked to. I always bought
into a rumour (possibly just amongst my friends) that it was a munge of Aphex
Twin's face and Chris Cunningham's face.

It was this piece that first gave me that odd moment we're seeing a lot of in
this thread as I had always assumed Giger was a contemporary of Escher or even
earlier. Seeing Windowlicker was dated 1999 really gave me a surprise.

~~~
GotAnyMegadeth
He did a piece of artwork for the front cover for Triptykon's album Melana
Chasmata that came out this year. Not sure when the artwork was done though.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melana_Chasmata](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melana_Chasmata)

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coolandsmartrr
I was always haunted and fascinated by Giger's imagination. What first came
into mind was the album cover for Emerson, Lake and Palmer's "Brain Salad
Surgery". By synthesizing Thanatos and Eros, both primordial in human nature,
Giger created instrinsically-appealing artworks. A great loss to the world.

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ChuckMcM
I got to meet the artist when his 'Alien' creation was on display at the
California Science Center in Exposition Park. They had a number of sets from
the movie on display and the full size creature that was what they build CGI
and other latex models from. I remember "Wow, this guy seems completely normal
for someone who has the ability to envision something so twisted." It is a
rare gift to be able to think about impossible things.

~~~
dennisgorelik
If you are not "normal" \- it's hard to communicate.

If it's hard to communicate - you cannot accomplish much.

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etfb
I'm amazed he wasn't dead years ago. Seventy four is a good twenty years
younger than I kind of assumed he would be. He was only forty when he did the
design for Alien? I know he already had his artistic style famous before that,
meaning he must have been a wee tacker when he started out. Amazing.

Also: vale. A talented artist with a distinctive voice.

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mysteriousllama
I remember picking up an Omni magazine when I was a prepubescent tadpole. The
cover had this amazing art that caught my eye. Guess who had drawn it?

Only later did I read it and become fascinated with science. Guess what I do
now?

It's amazing how much this man did for the world through his work. Very
influential to many people in many ways.

He will be missed.

~~~
drzaiusapelord
>Guess what I do now?

Exobiologist at Weyland Industries?

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JabavuAdams
So long, and thanks for all the nightmares.

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wiz21
Although well know for Alien, Giger actually made tons of other stuff
(including several bars !). Here's a good book about him that I've read :

[http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/art/all/01777/fact...](http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/art/all/01777/facts.hr_giger_arh.htm)

~~~
narag
I own a copy and also recommend it.

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textminer
For those interested in his work, I really recommend viewing the recent
documentary Jodorowsky's Dune, a failed film project Giger and several other
proto-luminaries worked on (inspiring much of the iconic imagery in Alien,
Star Wars, and Indiana Jones). Giger appears throughout the documentary. I
believe it's still playing in the Bay Area.

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logfromblammo
Is it wrong of me to hope that he designed his own casket and mausoleum?

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backwardm
I know this won't add much to the discussion, but I really hope he designed
his 0wn casket using his signature style—that would be really fun to see and a
great way to show one last piece of artwork.

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joel_perl_prog
What a great genius. What a great loss.

Celebrate his life today by watching Alien!

~~~
yuchi
Good idea, but [ __SPOILER ALERT!! __] remember to watch the original version,
the one where you don’t see the alien till the last minute of the movie.

~~~
olalonde
You might want to add a spoiler alert at the beginning of your comment. I'm
sure most of HN has already seen the movie but for those who haven't, knowing
that can ruin the suspense.

~~~
gknoy
[Spoiler?] If the movie is called "Alien", is it really a spoiler to say that
you see the alien by the end? I suspect that most of the movie is spent
dreading the eventuality that we all expect. ;) Granted it's been a long time
since I saw the movie, so I might have forgotten why it's a spoiler.

edit: I suspect that I saw Aliens before Alien, and therefore already had an
expectation of what it would look like. Thanks to the sibling/cousin comments
for explaining that :)

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doctornemo
Ah, what a loss.

I remember being astonished by Giger's vision in Alien. For years I hunted
down posters, calendars, and books, which weren't always available or
affordable. Like others here, I relished the Dark Seed game for its tribute to
Giger.

This takes me back to an earlier stage of my life, and makes me very sad. What
a vision!

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igorgue
Sad to see him go, great artist!

If you have a chance, check "Alejandro Jodorowsky's Dune". They have one of
his last interviews talking about how he got started and how that failed movie
was the seed for his ideas for Alien with Jean Giraud.

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Cowicide
Ironically, his futuristic work will be incredibly influential far into the
future. Terrible news.

RIP H.R. Giger

[https://imgur.com/gallery/SsFg0Hu/](https://imgur.com/gallery/SsFg0Hu/)

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mililani
Wow. For some reason, I thought he was dead a long time ago. RIP

~~~
agumonkey
I think his work had that unique classic timeless glow that belong to artists
since gone.

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ihenriksen
Very sad. I was a huge fan even before the Alien movies.

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bussiere
Darkseed was a chok when i was young. I still remember the game. RIP

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outworlder
He deserves a black bar.

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camus2
great artist!

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DENIKUTA
Up The great site

