Expose 8 Names H.R. Giger Grand Master

Ballistic Publishing's annual collection of outstanding artists and their work - Expose - has named this year's Grand Master H.R. Giger:

Each year EXPOSE awards the title of Grand Master to an artist who has had a major influence through their craft. By that measure, the EXPOSE 8 Grand Master has had an overwhelming influence on not just the art world, but also on movie-going audiences of any science-fiction movie made since 'Alien' in 1979. H. R. Giger's most memorable works fall into the category of "biomechanoid" art, describing the merging of human anatomy with mechanical elements in dark, sexual, nightmarish worlds inspired by the night terrors that haunted him from childhood.

The premier digital artist community, CGSociety, included the Expose 8 write-up on their website this week:

Below are a few excerpts from the article:

By the mid-1970s, Giger's work was being exhibited internationally, and came to the attention of Chilean filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky, thanks to writer Dan O'Bannon who brought him to an exhibition. Jodorowsky was working on a film adaptation of Frank Herbert's 'Dune', and enlisted Giger to produce concepts for the production: "Jodorowsky said that he would like me to try some designs - I could create a whole planet, and I would have a completely free hand." Despite completing numerous paintings for the project between 1975 and 1976, the film didn't go into production. In 1979, when Dino de Laurentiis acquired the rights to 'Dune', he sought Giger out as the production designer for the movie, and set his sights on Ridley Scott as Director. Giger's work focused on Harkonnen furniture pieces (which now reside in the Giger Museum).

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Dan O'Bannon showed a copy of Giger's first book, 'Necronomicon', to Director Ridley Scott, who was fascinated by Giger's artwork: "Initially, Giger wanted to design the creature from scratch. However, I was so impressed with his 'Necronom IV' and 'V' paintings from the 'Necronomicon' book that I insisted he follow their form. I had never been so sure of anything in my life. They were quite specific to what I envisioned for the film, particularly in the unique manner in which they conveyed both horror and beauty."

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In Ridley Scott's introduction to H.R. Giger's Film Design book, he said: "I found the experience of working with Giger to be a very positive one. He threw himself into the project with great intensity, and he was always very ready to listen and come up with useful solutions to the daily challenges which we face on such a complex film. I have come close to working with Giger on a couple of projects since we did ALIEN and it is my strong hope that we can work together again in bringing something special to the screen."

Click here to see the article in full on CGSociety.