Swiss surrealist master, sculptor and set designer HR Giger died today, leaving behind a legacy of of visual thought that has infected generations to date and more to come with his (once unique) style of art. I say “once unique” because, besides influencing a global grip of tattoo artists and fetishists, there are now a number of very talented artists taking up the torch. At the top of the list is Alex Kozhanov who actually did designs for Prometheus and no doubt will be doing more work on the sequels now that Giger himself is no more.
Not just a canvas painter, Giger also designed for many films such as the Alien franchise, Dune, Poltergeist 2 and even Batman Forever (delivering a radically offshoot Batmobile that didn’t mesh well with BatNipples so was never used). He also did eye-catching album covers for Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Deborah Harry, Steve Stevens, Danzig and many more.
His style was hitherto unseen for the day and continues to remain relevant fifty years later. He unlocked dark worlds that made sense to millions of others. What, if not that, is the job of the artist?
