H. R. Giger (1940

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Biography

Hans Ruedi Giger was a Swiss artist best known for his airbrushed images that blended human physiques with machines, an art style known as "biomechanical". He was part of the special effects team that won an Academy Award for the visual design of Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi horror film Alien, and was responsible for creating the xenomorph alien itself. His work is on permanent display at the H. R. Giger Museum in Gruyères, Switzerland. His style has been adapted to many forms of media, including album covers, furniture, and music videos.

Timeline

The story of H. R. Giger, told in moments.

1969 Event

Began the Necronomicon paintings. Biomechanical nightmares. Fused organic tissue with industrial machinery. Nothing in art looked like this before. He worked with an airbrush in a darkened studio.

Where do biomechanical nightmares come from? What were you seeing that nobody else could see?

1979 Event

Designed the Alien creature for Ridley Scott's film. The elongated skull, the double jaw, the biomechanical exoskeleton. Won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

What did you think when Ridley Scott chose your creature? Did the Oscar change anything for you?

2003 Event

Opened the H.R. Giger Museum in Gruyeres, Switzerland. The medieval castle filled with his art. Across the street, the Giger Bar: chairs shaped like vertebrae, walls like rib cages.

What is a medieval castle full of nightmares in Switzerland like? Did the Giger Bar surprise people?

Artifacts (15)

H. R. Giger's Necronomicon II

Master artist H.R. Giger guides us through the grimly beautiful world of his unconscious. The large-scale format of this intriguing book permits close inspection of 184 of Giger's detailed nightmare...

1992

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Giger's Alien: Film Design, 20th Century Fox

Text and photographs trace the design and construction of the alien creature, and other special effects, from the motion picture.

1993

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HR Giger's Filmdesign

Covers every film and video project H.R. Giger has worked on, including the artwork for his major films Alien, Alien 3, Dune and Batman Forever . The text is written by Giger and examines each project...

1996

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Species Design

Fantasy artist H.R. Giger has turned his creativity to a new movie, Species. The book documents the conception, development and final terrorizing 3D realization of Giger's macabre, otherworldly...

1996

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Www HR Giger com

Translated from German Layout: H R Giger and Sandra Beretta ; text: H R Giger [and others].

1997

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H. R. Giger's Retrospective, 1964-1984

More than 150 artworks, spanning 20 years in the career of the world's most renowned artist of the fantastical and the surreal, are gathered in one volume, rich with detail and color. Carefully...

1997

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HR Giger. Ediz. inglese, francese e tedesca

H. R. Giger is recognized as one of the world's foremost artists of Fantastic Realism. This portfolio includes 14 reproductions.

2001

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H. R. Giger's Biomechanics Limited Edition

H. R. Giger, Oscar-winning designer of the hit movie Alien and widely considered the world's finest dark fantasy artist, redefined edgy, contemporary art starting in the 1980s with his biomorphic...

2007

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Alien : Diaries 7/8

HR Giger worked in the Shepperton Studios near London from February to November 1978, creating the figures and sets for the film Alien (1979) directed by Ridley Scott. The film became an international...

2013

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Species Design by H. R. Giger

1995

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The Johannine Literature. A&C Black

2000

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HR Giger ARh+

2002

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H.R. Giger: Necronomicon I & II.

2005

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Lost Treasures of the Bible. Eerdmans

2008

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An Introduction to The Gospels. Abingdon Press

2011

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