Hansruedi "HR" Giger >>
* 1940; † 12 May 2014, Artist
"Anyone afraid of my pictures hasn’t grasped reality."
Tom Gabriel Fischer >>
* Born in 1963, musician and assistant HR Giger, lives in Zurich
"You are speaking to the 50-year-old Tom who appeared in front of 10,000 people and played hundreds of concerts. But I had an extremely difficult youth; I was beaten up every day at school, I grew up with hygienic conditions that shouldn't be described on camera , and had a mother who literally descended into insanity. And this very mother comes and says, it's the phone, a Mr Giger. Unbelievable. It's a moment I will never forget."
Mia Bonzanigo >>
* Born in 1950, lives in Chur and Zurich
"Hansruedi was an incredibly generous person. He would always say to anyone asking to borrow money from him, no I won't lend it, I'll give it to you.."
Andreas J. Hirsch >>
* Born in 1961, curator, author and photographer, lives in Vienna
"I think that finally it's a mirror he is holding up to us, a mirror to the soul which is perhaps more highly defined than many a mirror. Naturally it polarises. Sigmund Freud would say that it's where the strongest negativity or counterreaction is that the problem is to be found. It's something of a simplification, as we know today. But there may be a similarity, anyway: an observer who stands in front of a Giger painting and legitimately says, it is repulsive, I cannot bear it. That's where one might say we‘ve hit the mark."
Carmen Maria Giger >>
* Born in 1964, director of the HR Giger Museum in Gruyères
"Hansruedi can see further into the soul than most. What fascinates me is his incredible creativity, something which, even if you know him well, will always retain some of its enigmatic mystery."
Carmen Scheifele de Vega >>
* Born in 1937, originally from Spain (Madrid), moved to Switzerland in 1961 and lives in Baden (Aargau)
"Hansruedi has a great sense of humour that a lot of people know nothing about."
"That's what always impressed me most about him, that it's totally non derivative. Many of his inspiration came from his extensive reading and also from music. But that's just a tenuous influence. When you know that Giger's favorite music is jazz, well, could you see jazz in his paintings?"
Paul Tobler >>
* Born in 1943, doctor, lives in Zurich
"Lots of people think he must be a really odd guy you can't make contact with. But he's totally open. Somehow it goes together: the absolutely nice, friendly, decent, reserved guy with integrity who is never brusque - and his artwork."
Müggi III >>
*25 August 1999, Siamese cat
Stanislav Grof >>
* Born 1931 in Prague, lives in California
"I call Hansruedi a visionary, because he portraits accurately certain dark areas, that we all have, that are related to the trauma of birth, which we have never consciously processed. He also uses what Jung would call archetypal images, those are not ordinary images of every day."
Hans H. Kunz >>
*1944, † 2015, postermaker, gallerist
"I consider myself lucky to have had the chance to be around this extraordinary person and unique artist. I'll never forget his joker‘s gaze and his mischievous and distinctive smile."
Sandra Beretta >>
* Born in 1966, works for television as team leader in the area division of motion graphics for television, lives in Zurich.
"Hansruedi is extremely charming and a great gentleman."
Marco Witzig >>
* Born in 1972, art educator, curator, assistant and archive HR Giger, lives in Zurich
"He has worked a huge amount. In the 60s and 70s he was pretty much at his easel day and night. If you look at his big airbrush pictures, they are incredibly detailed and filigrane. He would work for weeks almost without interruption until he was satisfied. He is a typical Swiss: a grafter, a hard worker."
Li Tobler >>
*1948; † 19 May 1975 in Zurich, actress, model, gallerist and former partner to Hansruedi Giger
"A shitty-house“, said Li Tobler about the house number five in Zurich Oerlikon.