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‘Alien’ creator H.R. Giger is dead
- joel_perl_prog 12y agoWhat a great genius. What a great loss. Celebrate his life today by watching Alien!
- yuchi 12y agoGood 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 12y agoYou 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.
- yuchi 12y agoOooops!
- gknoy 12y ago[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 :)
- joel_perl_prog 12y agoLol. Sure. I used to have the special edition DVD...before I let go of all my DVDs. I would just say: don't worry about that. Just soak in the beautiful ambience of a film which features prominently the art of Giger, both in set design, and creature design!
- ekianjo 12y ago> watch the original version You mean there is another version where you see it earlier? Whose stupid idea was that?
- yuchi 12y agoAs far as I remember the director’s cut has a lot of glimpses to it way before [ SPOILER ALERT!! ] the xenomorph get spit out of the ship.
- joel_perl_prog 12y agoFor the record, I like Ridley Scott's cuts. I guess I'm specifically alluding to Blade Runner here, as another example. Second note: I'm noticing already other comments focusing on how much knowledge we have outside of Alien, almost like punk rock posturing. It's okay to like something that's popular and beautiful! Watch Alien! This is not an underground punk band guys, a great genius has just died. =)
- negativity 12y agoSpeaking of punk rock, Mr. Giger can claim some significant cultural influence in that sphere too. Klaus Flouride, the bassist for the Dead Kennedys had mentioned in an interview from 2003 that personal differences between band members, regarding the "Work 219: Landscape XX (penis landscape)" painting, were the breaking point determining the band's breakup: ...the Frankenchrist thing was, say, a final straw as far as [Jello Biafra] going in a different direction than what we wanted to do. I felt that the poster itself was shock for the sake of shock value. We'd shocked people before, but we'd always tried to have a point behind it. I didn't see the point he was making. But we didn't quit after the lawsuit happened. We quit when he decided that that poster was gonna be in there one way or the other, and we could take a hike if we wanted to. So we said, "Well, why don't we call it 'Jello Biafra and Dead Kennedys?,'" since that's what it was becoming anyway at that point. [1] [1] http://www.markprindle.com/flouride-i.htm http://www.markprindle.com/flouride-i.htm And then... The poster was printed and inserted in the Frankenchrist album with an additional sticker on the outside shrinkwrap, warning buyers of the contents. The resulting trial for obscenity nearly drove the label into bankruptcy. [2] The artwork caused a furor with the newly formed Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). In December 1985 a teenage girl purchased the album at the Wherehouse Records store in Los Angeles County. The girl's mother wrote letters of complaint to the California Attorney General and to Los Angeles prosecutors. In 1986 members of the band, along with other parties involved in the distribution of Frankenchrist, were charged criminally with distribution of harmful matter to minors. [3] [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penis_Landscape https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penis_Landscape [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Kennedys#Frankenchrist_and_obscenity_trial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Kennedys#Frankenchrist_an... ...it provoked a legal offensive against the band beginning in April 1986. As well as having his flat torn apart by the police, Biafra was charged with "distributing harmful matter to minors," a charge which he repulsed on the basis of the First Amendment right to free speech and which was dismissed the following year. [4] [4] http://www.deadkennedys.com/history.html http://www.deadkennedys.com/history.html But there were lots of album covers, and not everybody who chose Giger's work stirred up quite the same shitstorm as the Dead Kennedys. Some of the other album covers Giger's artwork has graced, include the likes of Glenn Danzig, Debbie Harry, Carcass and Celtic Frost.
- user24 12y ago[SPOILERS] I'm not sure which I've seen.. in the non-original, when do you first see the alien, in the airducts?
- yuchi 12y ago[SPOILERS] Yes, just at the end, so the thing you’ve been imaging in your mind for the whole movie is completely destroyed by the shape of a human being. All that monstrosity that gives life to a human-like. And that happens in the exact moment a human-like animal kills it expelling it into space from the ship. Genius. Edit: whoops, I didn’t read your comment correctly. I don’t remember where you see its full shape, the airducts is the most plausible place as far as I remember.
- Cowicide 12y agoIronically, 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/
- camus2 12y agogreat artist!
- tluyben2 12y agoRIP. 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.
- ekianjo 12y agoVery sad, I did not know he was disabled recently. I remember reading a lot about him in the 80s as well, and seeing what he did outside of his work on Alien. Dark Seed (the game) also comes to mind.
- rasur 12y agoI 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.
- textminer 12y agoFor 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.
- mysteriousllama 12y agoI 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 12y ago>Guess what I do now? Exobiologist at Weyland Industries?
- ThePhysicist 12y agoThat'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 12y agoThe Baron's castle in Jodorowsky's Dune looks amazing and terrifying. RIP Giger
- mililani 12y agoWow. For some reason, I thought he was dead a long time ago. RIP
- agumonkey 12y agoI think his work had that unique classic timeless glow that belong to artists since gone.
- coolandsmartrr 12y agoI 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.
- wiz21 12y agoAlthough 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/facts.hr_giger_arh.htm http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/art/all/01777/fact...
- narag 12y agoI own a copy and also recommend it.
- etfb 12y agoI'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.
- ihenriksen 12y agoVery sad. I was a huge fan even before the Alien movies.
- sbirchall 12y agoA 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 12y agoHuh, I didn't know that the face was based on Giger's work.
- sbirchall 12y agoMe 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 12y agoHe 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
- paulrov 12y agoFirst I've heard of it being a big fan of all 3 of them… Gonna take that with a massive grain of salt and think they might be mixing up the fact that Cunningham did creature design on Alien 3
- lttlrck 12y ago
- bussiere 12y agoDarkseed was a chok when i was young. I still remember the game. RIP
- mgw 12y agoIf 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 12y agoI 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 12y agoI 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.
- rasur 12y agoOur NW Management company has a Giger piece hanging from the ceiling in their reception. I was (pleasantly) surprised the first time I visited them for a meeting. His work turns up in the most unexpected places. ;)
- VikingCoder 12y agoI know this isn't reddit, but I can't help myself: You made me picture an Alien carved out of Gruyère cheese.
- kken 12y ago>Gruyère Also, cheese.
- Argorak 12y agoI don't understand the downvotes. The parent suggests going there for the town, so why not for the cheese? Just in case someone thinks this is a lame swiss joke: Gruyère is also the name of a _very_ famous cheese from that town, mostly used for Fondue and Quiche Lorraine.
- doctornemo 12y agoAh, 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!
- outworlder 12y agoHe deserves a black bar.
- DENIKUTA 12y agoUp The great site
- elecengin 12y agoMy 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-Brain_Salad_Surgery-Interior_Frontal.jpg?167 http://images.coveralia.com/audio/e/Emerson,_Lake_y_Palmer-B... (SFW)
- ppadron 12y agoThis 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=PL0BD02082558BC33B https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpUeo6wR7M4&list=PL0BD020825...
- negativity 12y agoYup, 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
- beefman 12y agoMy favorite part of the story involves the band's visit to Giger's house. Emerson used the bathroom and found the toilet was a sculpture, consisting of many hands reaching up. "You had to sit on these hands to do a shit."
- JabavuAdams 12y agoSo long, and thanks for all the nightmares.
- logfromblammo 12y agoIs it wrong of me to hope that he designed his own casket and mausoleum?
- igorgue 12y agoSad 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.
- backwardm 12y agoI 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.
- ChuckMcM 12y agoI 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 12y agoIf you are not "normal" - it's hard to communicate. If it's hard to communicate - you cannot accomplish much.
- kimonos 12y agoMay his soul rest in peace...