HR Giger Dies: Stunning Images from the Darkside of the Psyche
Swiss artist HR Giger, who designed the creature in Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror classic Alien, has died at age 74 from injuries suffered in a fall. Giger's works, often showing macabre hybrids of humans and machines, influenced a generation of film directors and inspired an enduring fashion for "biomechanical" tattoos.
![HR Giger at Work (1978)](https://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1378384/hr-giger-work-1978.jpg?w=736&f=a9fd464b5a9309ece6cb428c2dd8e8bb)
"My paintings seem to make the strongest impression on people who are, well, who are crazy," Giger said in a 1979 interview with Starlog magazine. "If they like my work they are creative ... or they are crazy."
A collection of his early work, "Ein Fressen fuer den Psychiater" — "A Feast for the Psychiatrist" — used mainly ink and oil, but Giger soon discovered the airbrush and pioneered his own freehand technique. He also created sculptures using metal, styorofoam and plastic.
Giger's vision of a human skull encased in a machine appeared on the cover of "Brain Salad Surgery," a 1973 album by the rock band Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Along with his design for Debbie Harry's solo album, "Koo Koo" (1981), it featured in a Rolling Stone magazine list of the top 100 album covers of all time.
Giger went on to work as a set designer for Hollywood, contributing to "Species," ''Poltergeist II," ''Dune," and most famously "Alien," for which he received a 1979 Academy Award for special effects.
![HR Giger The Necronom IV, inspiration for the Alien HR Giger The Necronom IV, inspiration for the Alien](https://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1378374/hr-giger-necronom-iv-inspiration-alien.jpg)
![ELP ELP](https://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1378391/elp.jpg)
![KooKoo KooKoo](https://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1378392/kookoo.jpg)
![The Spell The Spell](https://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1378390/spell.jpg)
![Pilot Pilot](https://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1378393/pilot.jpg)
![Li Li](https://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1378388/li.jpg)
![HR Gigers Necronomicon HR Gigers Necronomicon](https://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1378387/hr-gigers-necronomicon.jpg)
![Alien sculpture Alien sculpture](https://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1378385/alien-sculpture.jpg)
![Book signing with HR Giger Book signing with HR Giger](https://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1378395/book-signing-hr-giger.jpg)
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