HANSRUEDI "HR" GIGER
* 1940; † 12 May 2014, Artist
Hansruedi “HR” Giger was born in Chur in 1940. Even as a child he was interested in the surreal and the macabre. In 1962 he moved to Zurich, where he studied interior and industrial design at the Zurich University of the Arts. After finishing his studies, he worked for a time as a furniture designer before devoting himself entirely to his art. Inspired by Gustav Meyrink, H.P. Lovecraft but also Jean Cocteau and Alfred Kubin, he created numerous surreal dreamscapes. Giger created much of his work with an airbrush, developing an unparalleled mastery of the technique. His ‘Biomechanoids’ emerged not only in his paintings and sculptures but in his furniture as well.
The director Ridley Scott became aware of Giger through a book on his work, entitled Necronomicon. He hired him for the set and design for the film Alien. His work on the film made him world famous, and in 1980 won him an Oscar in the category ‘Best Achievement for Visual Effects’.
Giger’s designs for album covers have won several awards. For example, the music magazine Rolling Stone listed the covers for Debbie Harry’s LP “Koo Koo” and Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s “Brain Salad Surgery” in the top 100 album covers of all time.
In 1998 the HR Giger Museum in Saint-Germain Castle in Gruyères (FR) was opened and houses much of his work.
HR Giger lived and worked in Zurich. He died on 12 May 2014, shortly after the filming of DARK STAR – HR GIGER’S WORLD was completed.