HR Giger

by Andreas J. Hirsch (Contributor), Carmen Giger (Signer)

This Taschen Portfolio features 14 stunning prints by one of the world’s foremost artists of Fantastic Realism, HR Giger.

Born in 1940 in Chur Switzerland, he studied architecture and industrial design at the School of Applied Arts in Zurich. By 1964 he was producing his first artworks, mostly ink drawings and oils, leading to his first solo exhibition in 1966, followed by the world-wide distribution of his first published posters in 1969. Shortly after, he discovered the airbrush and his own signature freehand style, and created his most well known works, the Biomechanical dreamscapes which formed the cornerstone of his fame. Giger's first book, Necronomicon, published in 1977, servers as the visual inspiration for director Ridley Scott's blockbuster movie Alien, Giger's first film assignment, earning him the 1980 Oscar for "Best Achievement in Visual Effects," for his designs of the film's title character and otherworldly environment. Giger's album covers for Debbie Harry and the band ELP were voted among the 100 best in music history in a survey of rock journalists. Throughout his career, Giger also worked in sculpture and, in 1992, created his first total environment, the Giger Bar in Chur. The Museum H.R. Giger in Chateau Saint-Germain was opened in Gruyeres in 1998. Today, Giger continues to live and work in Zurich with his companion in life Carmen, where his current projects include the realization of his museum bar in Gruyeres.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Horror, Collections, Biography, Art and Photography, Art Design

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Warwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 1st of August is a national holiday in Switzerland, and this year we spent it pottering around the little medieval town of Gruyères – where, among the fondue restaurants and chocolate shops, tucked into the old castle, is a bizarrely incongruous biomechanical museum dedicated to that most challenging of Swiss artists, HR Giger.

As you wander round the many dark and angular floors of the museum (‘colour is a distraction,’ he once said), part of the pleasure is in the art, and part is in seeing all the baffled tourists who have strayed from the souvenir shops to this strange shrine full of – in the words of Andreas Hirsch here – ‘erect penises, gaping vulvas, and scenes of mechanical and physical unions’. ‘Oh my gosh – oh my Jesus,’ cried one American who was in the ‘restricted section’ at the same time as me and Hannah. ‘Don’t look at that wall, Karen! Just keep your eyes on me. Oh gosh, this guy was seriously messed-up…’

If I had made that story up I would never have called her Karen, but sometimes life is disappointingly on-the-nose. In any case, there is a certain amount of shock value with Giger’s stuff, but once that fades the disquiet is much more profound. The people in his pictures are strange and mutated, with tubes and wires coming in and out of them; but they are also full of beauty, in terms of form and shape, and are executed with astonishing, laborious skill, typically with ink airbrushed onto transparent sheets.



Giger grew up in the pretty mountain town of Chur, at the head of the Alpine passes, and I wonder about the fact that amid the stunning scenery, rosy-cheeked milkmaids and stout yeomen, he was inside dwelling on these strange, sickly images of darkness, which owe something to dream logic (he appreciated Freud), something to fiction (no surprise that he was a reader of Poe and Lovecraft), something to art history (very much in the footsteps of Bosch, Fuseli, Goya and the Surrealists), and something to his own unique understanding of the implications of modern technology.

His father was a pharmacist, and once brought a human skull home with him: apparently the young Giger, in the late 1940s, would drag it through the streets with him on a string, like a pet. There’s a metaphor for the man if ever there was one.



The Oscar he won for design work on Ridley Scott’s Alien has associated him with horror, but that genre is not always a good fit for the mood you get from his work. No one ever seems frightened or in pain in Giger’s pictures: there is a sense of calm, even harmony there which makes them quite puzzling. Your eye goes back to them, looking for some solution that isn’t there, and often finding more unsettling details in the process.

He brings to mind David Cronenberg films – the interest in flesh and its changes – and also JG Ballard, especially the uncomfortable eros-thanatos extravaganza of Crash.

Hannah wanted to get a poster, but it’s hard to imagine being able to put any of this up in your house and still expect guests. Maybe we’ll hang it in the cellar, which is dark and full of old bits of broken machinery. You feel Giger would approve.

[Andrea Magistris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Artista che è andato oltre la semplice pittura, oltre la semplice scultura, oltre qualsiasi canone imposto dal genere e dal tempo.
Le sue opere, a partire dal più semplice degli sketch, sono una discesa nell'abisso che è l'animo umano: carne, sangue, organi esposti, sesso, gestualità disinibite, simbolismi che mescolano avanguardia e classicità. Niente è solo ciò che sembra nelle sue creazioni, e anche la mera apparenza sarebbe materia da analisi più che approfondite. Che si tratti di astronavi, creature simil umanoidi o paesaggi da incubo, quest'uomo è riuscito a dar concretezza a una fantasia sfrenata nobilitandola e mescolandola con un insieme di influssi culturali a dir poco eterogenei.
Il cinema, la musica, la letteratura; ogni ambito artistico è stato influenzato dalla sua visione. Senza di lui non esisterebbero le sporche ambientazioni interstellari della Nostromo, gli Xenomorfi, la Los Angeles future/noir di Blade Runner così come i Cenobiti di Hellraiser, solo per citarne alcuni.
Provate a guardare un suo lavoro qualsiasi e ditemi che non vi ricorda qualcosa: ecco, non sono le sue opere a somigliare ad altro, ma gli altri ad essersi ispirati alle opere di questo genio assoluto.

[Nina Misson · Rating 5 out of 5]

'The Dutch customs once thought my pictures were photos. Where on earth did they think I could have photographed my subjects? In Hell, perhaps?'

[Caroline Mcleod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible of course, but it kills me when art books spread images across two pages so they are obscured by the spine. I'd rather see a smaller image than a distorted one.

[E. G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

--Mythologies for the Future, Andreas J. Hirsch

--Works 1961-1975

--Horror and Beauty, Andreas J. Hirsch

--Works 1975-1980

--Restless Classic, Andreas J. Hirsch

--Works since 1980

HR Giger: Life and Work
Exhibitions, Books, and Films

Life and Work Quotation Sources
Photo Credits
Acknowledgments
Imprint

[Zachary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to read HR Giger's famous work The Necronomicon, but the damn thing is like 400 dollars on Amazon, while this book costs only a cool 16 Washingtons, so I settled for it instead.

Three stars because this book attempts to do everything and does an okay job at all of it. The book shows a lot of Giger's more famous work, but it is by no means exhaustive. Throughout the book we're given Giger's autobiography, but it skips around in time and theme, and it's unclear whether certain passages are fact or if Giger is writing tongue-in-cheek. Some of his more well-known pieces are presented in gloriously horrific full pages, while others are disappointingly small. The title, medium, and date are given for each work, but there is no commentary by the artist, or any explanation of the inspiration. I found this last fact to be the most disappointing of all.

Still, this is a decent introduction to Giger's life and work, if a casual one. When seeing Giger's images a little at a time on the internet, they really stand out. But to sit down for an hour or so and look at dozens of them in a row, one is really struck by how dark and bizarre they are. It makes for a thrillingly uncomfortable experience.

Stuff's freaky, man.

[Laila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edition ISBN 978-3-8365-8702-0
It’s a nice overview (I mean over 500 pages of his artworks in full color? Especially to the prices of this publisher that’s amazing) but as a book nothing special. Anybody looking to learn more about this artist though, it’s probably a good place to start!

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think my fascination with Gigers work stemmed from the original Alien film - where his design and focus was key to bringing such (at the time) a unique entity to life - but his contribution to both film and art in general goes way beyond that.

And rather than allowing the connection to Alien sterotype and potentially limit is reach he rose above it and cared his own path. I gues partly becasue he had such a huge and varied body of work.

This book celebrates his work and his achievements in glorious full page art - although I will admit that I took a star away as this book is such a thick tomb some double page images were impossible to appreicate without destroying the spine - but still an amazing catalogue of his work - some of which surprised even me who had been eying this book for some time

[Navid Momeni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good introduction for artist Hr Giger

[Nicole Vasilev · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a fascinating man

[Patrick Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewing even the smaller version of the Taschen volume, a few things strike me;

It seems like Gieger is one of those creators so good that you easily forget just how good he is. He seems to come out of the blue, with a style that relates to little else, is rapidly omnipresent, then turned into ads, tattoos, posters, then just as quickly forgotten, accepted as just one of those things. Its astounding to me that much of peak-Giger is now fifty years old..

Leafing through the Taschen, seeing one piece after another and, even though the book is small, understanding that these pieces are *huge*, or at least very large, the size of church-paintings, which is what they feel like; sacred images of an alien church. Awe and horror are close siblings and Geiger transmutes one to the other with ease. Also; a curious peace hangs around many of these images.

Also they are very horny. Really 80% horny and 20% anything else in some cases. Plus there is often a forgotten edge of humour in many; one biomechanoid painting has what I think is the branding for a bunch of bananas integrated, others have sly or gargoylian elements, another way in which these reflect the medieval church.

I like that he had a train in his garden.

[Michael Sorbello · Rating 5 out of 5]

H.R. Giger's art is eerie but has an oddly divine and metallic quality to it. It's like Dante's Inferno crossed with cyberpunk nightmares like Blade Runner, The Matrix, Ghost in the Shell and Akira. It represents the fear he once held for where the human race was heading in the dark and unknown future. He's responsible for the iconic designs of the Ridley Scott Alien franchise.

Very cool.

[Alana · Rating 3 out of 5]

u best believe if giger designed my toaster or sumthin imma try take that thing round back and share a beautiful moment with it. and by beautiful moment i mean the unravelling of my unconscious desires and fears. and if that’s not hot i don’t know or care what is

[Γιώργος Μπελαούρης · Rating 5 out of 5]

a sick puppy this one
he shouldnt be vastly known only for alien
amazing body of work
one of the last true artists

[Zuzana Be · Rating 5 out of 5]

Táto Taschen 40 bola oveľa lepšia ako CCCP. Aj keď teda ehm od 18 rokov... kľudne aj od 28 by som dala. 38. 🫣 Ale komplexná esej o tvorbe, CV, VEĽA umenia. (aj keď nechápem, prečo robia 2strany, keď vôbec nie je vidno čo je v strede, hlavne keď tam je postava..)

[Karla Cabrales · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Giger and getting to know his personal life resonates a lot with his art.

The quality of the illustrations is awesome.

[Lukáš Hamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giger je enigma, človek (a surrealista) ťažiaci v prvom rade z podvedomia, málokedy ochotný analyzovať vlastnú tvorbu. Informácii o ňom máme pomerne málo a preto sa väčšina literatúry a kurátorských textov o ňom točí okolo známych, otrepaných mýtov. Keď bol malý dostal od otca ako darček ľudskú lebku, ktorú potom ťahával na šnúrke, neskôr v detstve ho fascinovala múmia v miestnom múzeu, atď. Táto Taschen kniha nejde veľmi do hĺbky, iba v krátkosti rekapituluje jeho život a tvorbu (v troch jazykoch, čiže čistého textu je v tejto 450 stranovej knihe asi 50), zvyšok obsahu tvoria jeho (úžasné!) maľby vytlačené v pekných farbách na kvalitnom papieri. Kvalitné, ale jeho tvorbu príliš nikam neposúvajúce.

[Peter · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just finished looking through this before deciding to throw it out.
What is wrong with him? This is not art, horrible truly horrible.

Yet another in the "GIFT" series.

"Come back peddle bin and take it! NOW!!!"

"your not putting that near me!"

"But your a bin"

"Yes that's true. I can see where your coming from, I do take rubbish. But....."

"But what?"

"Can't you Know...UMMMMM... Shred it first...... PLEEEEASE."

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fuuuuuu*k. I am as obsessed with this book as much as I am the artist. Even if you're not into alien d*cks and darkness just looking at the amazing amount of artwork makes checking this book out worth it, even if you dont read a word that's inside of it.

[Danny Hartnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

The king of sci-fi horror, spooky and sexy.

[Dmitry Berkut · Rating 5 out of 5]

500 impressive pages by Hans Rudolf Giger, that very Swiss artist of the necro-goth, who designed the xenomorphs in 'Alien,' and about whom Timothy Leary, his friend, said: 'His paintings unmistakably communicate where we came from and where we will go. They speak to our deep, biological memories. His paintings are our photos from eight months before birth. Vaginal landscapes. Intrauterine postcards. And further - into the depths of the human cell nucleus. Want to look at your genetic code? See how genes produce protein, cloning their own tissues? Just turn the page.'

500 впечатляющих страниц Ханса Руди Гигера, того самого швейцарского художника некро-гота, что создал дизайн ксеноморфов в «Чужом», и о котором Тимоти Лири, его друг писал:
«Его картины обращаются к нашим глубинным, биологическим воспоминаниям. Это наши фотоснимки — за 8 месяцев до рождения. Влагалищные пейзажи. Внутриматочные открытки. И дальше — в глубины ядра человеческой клетки. Хотите взглянуть на свой генетический код? Увидеть, как гены вырабатывают белок, клонируя собственные ткани? Просто переверните страницу.»

[Tibor Konig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Régóta akartam ezt a könyvet, de szerencse, hogy vártam, mert így a hiperszuper "HR Giger. 40th Ed." című kiadást vásároltam végül meg, ami a Taschen könyvkiadó fennállásának 40. évében elkezdett ünnepi sorozat része. (Próbáltam elérni, hogy ez a kiadás is bekerüljön a Goodreadsbe, de az egyik "szuperkönyvtárossal" váltott N üzenet után végül letettem erről - annyi baj legyen.)

Giger elsősorban az "Alien" ("A nyolcadik utas: a Halál") és persze a teljes Alien-franchise számos vizuális elemének alkotójaként híres (dolgozott meg nem valósult Dűne- és Gyűrűk ura-projektekben is), de igazából festő, aki Hollywoodtól függetlenül is jelentős életművet hozott létre biomechanikus, furcsán erotikus, zavarba ejtő, néhol erős gyomrot igénylő képeivel. A kötet rengeteg fotóval és reprodukcióval mutatja be Giger alkotásait, még a mellékágnak tűnő szobrászatra, építészetre és lakberendezésre is kitér.

[Luke Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Middle period work is fantastic, early too, and the later period has its moments, but it seems like the later work feels muddied, lacking the clarity of forms and details present in the middle period. The colour stuff is super interesting !!!!! I really love the landscapes, and all the biomechanoids are fun but good god this guy loves pussy and cock and tits...and also the early works have this GORGEOUS sense of shading, which is kinda lost in Giger's work past his first few years as a professional artist. Good collection tho :)

[Dol Leander · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will always be an HR Giger lover and I'm glad to own all 500 pages of this. The issue I have with it, though, is largely with the formatting. There are several pieces that are spread over two pages which leads to them being lost in the center, there are also several areas where empty space is left next to photos and I believe that space could have been used to actually give more context behind the art

[Morpheus Lunae · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the Taschen Icons versions of this which is a bit small but still quite a good book for the price. There are some texts by Giger himself and also a lot of sketches which I really appreciated. It's interesting to see his projects after Alien which I, for some reason, always forget about. The zodiac biomechs are particularly fun.

[David Segovia · Rating 4 out of 5]

An awesome tribute to the haunting power and dark psychedelia of biomechanical visions. The volume spans the full range of Giger work such as paintings, sculpture, film and iconic album covers.

--------------------------------
"Lowell... He's got a Giger." - Giger? - This painter. Like nineteenth-century or something. Real Classical. Bio-mech"

Virtual Light
William Gibson
1993

[Les75 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Volume di ottima fattura (anche se forse un po' piccolo come formato) che ripercorre l'arte visionaria di Giger, che non è solo l'ideatore di Alien, ma è un artista visionario le cui creazioni spaziano da mondi alieni, a creature biomeccaniche, con sconfinamenti sulla magia, l'esoterismo e l'erotismo. Un mondo tutto suo, una dimensione davvero aliena.

[Ljubomir · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Giger, but that's not a great art book. It contains a lot of sketches and deep cuts, which I appreciate, but for a retrospective/introductory collection like this it's a strange choice and the selection ends up looking random and incomplete. I also didn't like accompanying texts (which were sparse anyway), with the exception of the two annotations by Giger himself.

[Shawn Persinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Short but straightforward, informative text.

Some of the images appear lackluster, but, as I've never seen the originals, I don't know whether this is due to the quality of the reproductions or originals.

[Oscar Lilley · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Lovecraft, Poe, Kafka, Dali, and Suess had a child grown in a lab and then that child dropped acid and had a fever dream, it would see images created by Giger. One of the most unique artists of the 20th Century. This book is a trip.