14 DAY TRIAL // H. R. Giger, the Swiss surrealist artist who created the alien in Ridley Scott’s 1979 classic film “Alien” and most of the setpieces featured in it, has died, Reuters informs. He was 74 years old.
Giger had been hospitalized for injuries sustained in a recent fall, and died as a result of those. The family is yet to issue a statement.
For his work on “Alien,” a reference film to this day, Giger was awarded an Oscar for Best Achievement in Visual Effects in the following year, at the 1980 Academy Awards.
If you’ve seen “Alien,” you get an idea of Giger’s work: he was fascinated by creatures that were part human part machine, nightmarish hybrids that he later described as “biomechanical.” His impact in film and the visual arts was huge, but Giger’s work also went “mainstream,” crossing over into the realm of body art, in the former of Giger-inspired tattoos.
In an interview in 1994, Giger acknowledged this trend in tattoos, saying he could think of no higher compliment than to have someone get one of his works forever inked on their skin.
“The greatest compliment is when people get tattooed with my work, whether it's done well or not. To wear something like that your whole life is the largest compliment someone can pay to you as an artist,” he said.
