Surreal

I would like to pause my Champions campaign posts for a moment to acknowledge, and mourn, the passing of a visual artist whose work has had a huge impact on me during his lifetime, and mine.

Swiss surrealist painter, sculptor and designer Hans Rudolph Giger, who created the look of the iconic Xenomorph from the ALIEN film and its subsequent sequels, passed away yesterday, May 12th, 2014, in Zurich, Switzerland.

Since the original ALIEN film, many, many artists have emulated the look of H.R. Giger's designs. The look of many characters, sets, creatures and devices for movies, games, book cover and other media can be described as Giger-esque, and rightly so.

No work looked like Giger's before he appeared on the scene, though numerous attempts were made to create works that looked like his afterward.

This is the sign of someone who was, is and will always remain more than a talented artist (though that alone is enough). This is someone whose visual style defined the term originality and who's very existance meant that you could break the mold, you could do something different from what everyone else was doing and touch a chord with a generation and beyond.

For the timeless art that H.R. Giger gave us, and for the message of originality that sometimes even artistic people miss, he will forever cause me to think, re-evaluate and enjoy the visual medium. For this alone, he has my thanks.

Rest in peace.

AD
Barking Alien