Meeting the master

In July 2008 ImagineFX spoke to HR Giger about Alien and more…

Early influences…

“When I was a kid, there was a mummy in the museum in Chur that fascinated me. It wasn’t in a very good state – there wasn’t much flesh, so the bony structure seemed stronger. It fascinated me…”

Trapped in dreams…

“The strongest thing in my work, I think, is the claustrophobic stuff. I still sometimes have shitty dreams with that in… being inside rooms that are like graves, a stone grave, a tomb. That’s more important to me than the erotic stuff.”

Trusting his gut…

“In the beginning I had no idea what I was doing. I just did some clouds or whatever, and then I would make an eye or something. It just came, you know, from the belly.”

Painting big…

“Some of them were very big. The bigger ones could be 2x2.4m. That was important to me somehow, because at that size you’re surrounded by the image. I liked to say these works went from one ear to the other! The size makes them more impressive.”

Alien audience…

“When I worked on Alien, I was in Shepperton Studios for about seven months. If you want to do something effective, then you have to travel and work with the people making the film. If you work longdistance, it’s really not possible to get a good result.”

Retirement in 2008…

“It might sound very strange that an artist can say he’s retired, but just because I’m not doing any more paintings, it doesn’t mean that I’m not thinking about things. I still write my diaries and my dream book, where I record my dreams. And drawings too, sometimes. But now I’m mostly concentrating on sculptures and overseeing my bar and museum.”