H.R. Giger - Out of the Shadows

Photo on opposite page © Willy Spiller, 1992. Photo on this page © Dana Frank, 1993. 

his art has been shown in more than 190 exhibitions 

around the world, you'll have more luck finding his 

exquisitely airbrushed visions in magazines (Heavy 

Metal, Penthouse), on record covers (Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Debbie Harry, Steve Stevens, 

Carcass), and brought to three dimensional "life" in movies (Alien, Poltergeist II, Alien 3). So when you 

think of the artist who created the magnificent, savage inter-galactic beasts that made your heart palpi- 

tate as you watched them come to life on the silver screen, you've been touched by the unofficial por- 

trait photographer of the Golden Age of Biology! 

Born Hans Rudi Giger (though don't ever call him that) 

on February 5, 1940, he is the artist who has combined 

the terrors from within and beyond mere human 

understanding with the blatancy of what was, 

is and might yet be. 

In the smoky psychic landscape where 

fear hunkers and horror grows rampantly 

like blood-fed crabgrass, H.R. Giger 

vacations with a sketch pad, recording 

it all with unerring taste, precision and 

coolly detached matter-of-factness. 

Giger paid a rare visit to NYC to preside 

over the opening of a prestigious 

show of his art at the Alexander Gallery 

and also made a brief visit to a New Jersey 

tattoo convention to receive an award and much 

adulation. He seemed nonplused at the attention, fascinated 

by the act of tattooing (he'd never seen it done 

before), and pleased by the "life-of-their-own" that his 

biomechanical creations have taken on. With his tattoo 

book, H.R. Giger Under Your Skin, coming 

out in the near future, he has moved closer 

and closer to the tattoo community. 

While immersing himself in the "texture" 

of tattooing, so to speak, he has 

come to view that art with respect, 

admiration and awe, and he has been 

meticulously searching for quality 

photographs of every tattoo inspired 

by his work for his forthcoming book. 

He was also recently a judge at a Swiss 

tattoo convention. 

Now hear what he has to say about tattoos, 

his Watch Abart exhibition, the film 

industry, his projects in the works (like the sci-fi 

thriller Species) and more! 

pdf created by www.littlegiger.com

ITA: Are you enjoying yourself here 

in New York? 

HRG: Yes, very much. 

ITA: When was the last time you were 

in the States? 

HRG: That was in 1986 when I had 

the occasion to go to Los Angeles during 

the pre-production of Poltergeist II 

to see how my designs for the movie 

had been executed. 

ITA: Were you pleased with what 

they did with your work? 

HRG: Hmm. What they showed me 

was very different from what I did. I 

walked through and said, "Great! 

Primo! Wonderful!" I felt like a teacher 

in school. Everybody was in their 

little rooms waiting for me. I could see 

26 

that they had worked very hard and it 

was already done. It was too late to 

change anything. I would only make 

them crazy by criticizing. It was probably 

best that I handled it that way. 

ITA: That was very diplomatic of you. 

HRG: I'm not always a diplomat. 

ITA: You had problems with Alien 3? 

HRG: Yes. That was a mistake, in a 

way. While I was working on my idea 

for The Mystery of San Gottardo, 

Gordon Carroll contacted me about 

doing Alien 3. I told him that I was 

working on a new creature and I could 

probably combine it. I had imagined 

that because I had done the first Alien, 

this time I would have a little more 

freedom to be able to bring in some 

new ideas. But that was completely 

stupid to think. 

ITA: Naive of you? 

HRG: Very naive! 

ITA: Did they want you to do something 

very specific? 

HRG: Yes, they told me exactly what I 

had to do and didn't even give me a 

chance to show them San Gottardo. 

They said, "No, we don't need it." My 

story was a comedy, theirs was definitely 

not. Gordon Carroll asked if I 

was interested. Yes, why not? Then it 

was, "Do that, do that and that!" just 

like when I started Alien. First I should 

only do creatures, then later on I could 

do more and more. I had hoped that it 

would be true, and develop the same 

way with Alien 3. 

ITA: But it didn't? 

HRG: It didn't. After one month of 

work it was over. I heard nothing from 

them after I completed my designs. I 

gave all my energy to this and put all 

my other projects aside, because the 

Alien is my baby. 

ITA: You haven't had very good luck 

with film projects. 

HRG: No. It only worked out well 

once with Alien. 

ITA: It's amazing that it's only now, 

two years later and mostly from your 

own interviews, that we discover that

you designed the creature in Alien 3. 

Normally such news would be highly 

publicized. 

HRG: Yes, I would think so. 

ITA: I never read any of the usual 

interviews with you when the film 

Alien 3 came out and the screen credit 

only said "Original Alien Design by 

H.R. Giger." 

HRG: In my contract for Alien 3 it 

states exactly how I should be credited 

and the studio broke that contract by 

crediting me with "Original Alien 

Design by H.R. Giger." It looks like I 

didn't work on the film at all. When I 

first saw this at a Fox screening of the 

film in Geneva I was shocked, horrified! 

We contacted 20th Century Fox 

and they said it was too late for 

changes. I also realized that my name 

was missing from the credits at the end. 

ITA: What could have been the studio's 

explanation for screwing up the 

credit for the designer who had previously 

won the Oscar for creating the 

same creature? 

HRG: We received many excuses, but 

never a satisfactory explanation. We 

are still waiting for that. 

ITA: What exactly did you do for 

Alien 3? 

HRG: My contract required that I provide 

new designs for an aquatic face 

hugger, a baby Alien, a full-grown 

Alien and some Alien skin, all of 

which I did. I did all my work at home 

in Zurich, making detailed sketches in 

pen and ink, and faxed them to director 

David Fincher every day. I was 

asked to make it look less humanoid 

and more like a beast. My new creature 

was more erotic and much more 

elegant and beastly than my original. It 

was a four-legged Alien, sort of like a 

lethal panther. It had skin that was 

designed to make musical notes, and 

how the Alien felt would be expressed 

(opposite page) Top photo © Willy Spiller, 

1992, bottom photo of Bambi Alien © 

Kelly A. Brill, (this page) The Alien III you 

never did see, the original version modeled 

by Giger himself in the basement of his 

home. The special effects team on the film 

decided they could do better. 

27

y sound. I assumed that all of 

my changes and improvements 

would be used. 

ITA: Weren't they? 

HRG: I was told by the creature 

effects team that they had 

some ideas of their own for the 

Alien and that they would 

make their own interpretation 

based on my sketches. I wondered 

why the director was listening 

more to them than to 

me. I invited all of them to visit 

me in Switzerland, but I heard 

that they didn't want my input. 

When I talked to them I found 

them to be very nice, very 

kind, but I am sure they believed 

they didn't need me. 

ITA: Weren't they hired to execute 

your designs? 

HRG: I thought so, but obviously they 

didn't. I found out much later that they 

were convinced it was their job to redesign 

the Alien 3 creature and accepted 

my "contributions" believing that 

all my efforts were based on my huge 

love for the matter. I now believe the 

director was playing a game with both 

sides to get the best result for the 

movie. In the end they used many of 

my ideas, but what was finally in the 

movie was very much different from 

what I imagined Alien 3 to be. In 

a way, they went back to my designs 

for the original Alien, and that 

28 

was disappointing. 

ITA: The Baby Alien sculpture I saw at 

the exhibition at the Alexander Gallery 

was great, but it wasn't in the movie. 

HRG: Unfortunately it wasn't. This 

was my "Bambi" Alien, very cute and 

very frightening at the same time. With 

my assistants in Zurich, I also built the 

life-size Alien 3 creature at my own 

expense, which I offered to David 

Fincher but he didn't want it, only photos 

of it. Because of this, it was not the 

same. It is still my creature, but it could 

have been more special. 

ITA: What finally happened? 

HRG: After strong pressure from my 

lawyers and my agent, Leslie Barany, 

20th Century Fox finally made the 

corrections on the videocassettes 

and the laser disks and 

then on the master print so it 

reads "Alien 3 Creature Design 

by H.R. Giger," but it was too 

late for me and too late for the 

audience that saw it in the theaters. 

I was not asked for any 

interviews, but the creative 

team of Mr. Woodruff and Mr. 

Gillis was. 

ITA: They also got the Oscar 

nomination for Special 

Pages from Giger's work-inprogress. 

The Mystery of San 

Gottardo. This one will cost 

Hollywood an arm and a leg!

Effects, didn't they? 

HRG: Yes. Normally I would have 

also been nominated since I received 

the Oscar for the exact same work 

in Alien. 

ITA: Whose responsibility is it to 

decide who is nominated? 

HRG: The director. 

ITA: I thought these things only happened 

in the movies. 

HRG: No, not only. But hopefully it 

will be different with the new film I'm 

working on, Species, for MGM. Frank 

Mancuso Jr., the producer, seems more 

sensitive to my work. 

ITA: Anything you can tell us about it 

at this point? 

HRG: Not very much except that I 

tried to do some new things, something 

aesthetic, not just another ugly 

creature. It is too early to know what 

the final results will be, how much of 

what you see in the movie will be 

mine. In film collaboration, with so 

many people involved, everyone has 

their own ideas. In truth, it is difficult 

for Hollywood to trust, totally, the 

ideas of an outsider, which, of course 

I am. But one never knows. 

ITA: Who is the director of Species? 

HRG: The director is Roger 

Donaldson and some of the actors 

are Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen 

and Forest Whitaker. It is a sciencefiction 

thriller about a genetically engineered 

being. 

ITA: Earlier you mentioned an idea 

you were working on, The Mystery of 

San Gottardo. What is it? 

HRG: It's a further development of an 

image I've used in my work over the 

last thirty years. The Mystery of San 

Gottardo is about a race of creatures, 

my Biomechanoids, part organic, part 

machine. A new life form, they are 

reduced human beings. The human 

form is cut up into three separate entities, 

meaning the torso with attached 

head and no limbs, a left arm joined to 

a right leg and a right arm joined to a 

left leg. These constructions, the combined 

arms and legs, are my 

Biomechanoids. They have the personality 

and memories of the original 

human beings. They remember being 

slaves and they never want to go back 

and be reattached to the slave holder. 

On the other hand, the torso would like 

to have its limbs back, and that's a 

problem. Also, if the body had problems, 

like addictions to drugs or alcohol, 

the Biomechanoids would inherit 

these problems and would need to find 

other ways to satisfy these cravings. 

Without a mouth, it's very difficult 

to drink. I felt that it was a good thing 

to show how human beings are. 

It's very satirical. 

ITA: A metaphor for human behavior? 

HRG: Yes. It would be funny. And 

this creature —I always want to say 

creature, but they are not —these 

human beings, these Biomechanoids, 

they are much more elegant than 

human beings are. A simple aesthetic 

form, just an arm and a leg. They have 

a basic biological structure. They have 

no intestines or hearts. No organs 

whatsoever. They have no digestive 

disorders, heart problems or respiratory 

illness. They never get sick or old. 

Their needs are simple, just some 

sugar water for circulation of blood. 

There isn't any stomach, it goes direct- 

Photo © Willy Spiller, 1992. 

29

ly into the system intravenously. They 

just need a small electric current to get 

the machines inside of them working. 

They receive oxygen through a kind of 

gills. They give each other sexual pleasure 

by using vibrators to stimulate the 

palms of their hands and the soles of 

their feet and sometimes make love to 

each other forming a chain. 

ITA: So this will be funny, a black 

comedy. Do you find much of what 

you do funny? 

HRG: Yes. But other people probably 

do not. 

ITA: Let's talk 

about what you 

saw at the Ink- 

Credible Tattoo 

Convention in 

New Jersey (in 

'93) where you 

were presented 

an award as the 

"Father of Biomechanica." 

Have you ever 

worked on skin, 

on a living body? 

HRG: I've 

painted on living 

bodies a few 

times, but I have 

never made a tattoo. 

I would be afraid to, there's no 

room for error. I prefer to work on 

paper. If it didn't come out as good as 

I would hope, I would feel badly. But 

I'm fascinated by artists who have the 

expertise to do that, it's really quite 

amazing. Tattoo, as a medium of 

expression, offers possibilities that no 

other art form can match. 

ITA: How did it feel to see your face 

tattooed on someone's leg? 

HRG: (laughs) Somewhat embarrassing. 

It's quite humorous to see your 

face tattooed on someone. To do that, 

you must be in love with the person or 

a very big fan of somebody. I can only 

hope his girlfriend will not misunderstand 

my face on his leg! 

ITA: He's a tattoo artist (Paul Ivanko) 

and he told me it was a tribute to you 

for all of the inspiration your art 

has given him. 

HRG: That's wonderful. 

ITA: And how do you feel about seeing 

your paintings as tattoos? 

HRG: It is the highest compliment 

someone can pay to you as an artist to 

wear your work their whole life long. 

It's like a living museum, much like a 

kiosk (a street fixture invented in 

Berlin in the 1920s to display posters). 

They are living posters, making the 

artist more prominent. A form of 

advertisement. In that respect they are 

much more effective 

than paintings 

could be. It 

gives me immense 

joy to feel 

the enthusiasm of 

my fans. By this, 

I mean that it 

gives me the 

energy to continue 

working. 

ITA: Are tattoos 

of your work ever 

better than the 

original paintings 

themselves? 

HRG: It's possible, 

yes. Particularly 

if the tattoo 

conforms to the 

contours of the body, the shape of the 

muscle, like we saw (Humanoid I) on 

tattoo artist Andrea's leg. That's wonderful. 

It's even better if it's done that 

way. It adds an extra dimension to the 

work when the body is used not only 

as a flat surface. There can be a relationship 

between the artwork and 

where it is placed on the body, sometimes 

in a humorous or meaningful 

juxtaposition. Normally a canvas 

doesn't move, but on the body those 

possibilities can be explored. It can 

become art in motion. 

ITA: It seems appropriate to use your 

work as tattoos, as what you do does 

reveal the mechanical level of life that 

functions beneath the biological sur- 

Giger's visit in 1993 to NYC tattoo convention. 

Photos © Steve Bonge.

face. Tattoos can be used to highlight 

those under-the-skin mechanisms. 

HRG: Yes, it goes in the direction of 

what I do. Apparently, people like the 

look of transparent tattoos, looking 

within the body and seeing beneath the 

flesh. Tattooing can suggest this as a 

kind of trompe l'oeil. My biomechanical 

work, when used in tattoo art, does 

this. I like biomechanical tattoos very 

much, even when they are not directly 

from my work. They come very close 

to looking like actual modifications of 

the body. I have always been fascinated 

by life beneath the surface and the 

inner mechanism. I am trying to use 

this concept of transparency in my 

new film design work. 

ITA: What is the origin of yourbiomechanics? 

HRG: I first developed the idea of 

biomechanics in the early 1960s while 

I was in school. My designs were 

always a combination of technical elements 

and Art Nouveau. I realized that 

biomechanics would be a good name 

to identify this style. The concept of 

biomechanics is not entirely new. 

There is the same quality in some of 

the fantastic drawings of Da Vinci, 

Dali and even some of the Great 

Masters. In Bosch paintings there are 

combinations of machines and animals, 

strange biomechanical monsters. 

ITA: Which of your works best lend 

themselves to tattoos? 

HRG: It seems that the Li paintings 

and also the Passages and Spell series 

are the most repeated of my images in 

tattoos. Probably because of the axial 

symmetry of the design, which works 

well when it is done on the center of 

the back or on the chest. These are the 

most obvious and natural choices, 

since the body is also axial. Many of 

my paintings are like that. 

ITA: Which painting would you like 

to see as tattoos? 

HRG: The red babies (Landscape 

(above) Work #251, The Spell, 1974. 

(center) Tattoos by Antti Rossi, Fireline 

Tattoo, Finland. (bottom) Tattoo by 

Andrea Elston, East Side Inc., NYC. 

31

XIV) covering the body would be 

crazy! Three to four centimeters each 

head. It would look like a disease. Or 

the triptych of the babies, penises and 

skulls (Landscape XVIII, Landscape 

XIX and Landscape XX) on one back. 

The penises on top around the neck, 

the babies in the middle and the skulls 

on the ass. I like it when one type of 

image moves into the other, not stopping 

with hard edges but using abstract 

biomechanical elements from other 

paintings to join or to frame them. 

ITA: Any others? 

HRG: The Female Magician, not just 

the head, but the whole thing. Or Lilith 

from the cover of Necronomicon II, 

the whole painting or just the head, 

big. Or The Crucified Serpent (Work 

#3275) for someone who wants a special 

cross. The Erotomechanics. No, 

they are probably too strong! Some of 

my earlier ink drawings, the Birth 

Machines and Biomechanoids (1965- 

(this page, above) Photo © Dana Frank, 

1993. (below) Work #251, Li II, 1974. 

(opposite page, top left) Tattoo by Andrea 

Elston, East Side, Inc., photo by Richard 

Todd. The tattoo is based on Work #516, 

Victory V (Satan), 1983 (shown underneath). 

(top right) Tattoo by Filip Leu, 

Lausanne, Switzerland. (bottom left) Tattoo 

by Patty Kelley, Avalon Tattoo, San Diego, 

CA. (bottom right) Work #207, 

Landscape XIV, 1973. Tattoo by David 

Nicholi, Ink FX, Cleveland, OH. 

32 

'69) or Under the Earth or Phallelujah, 

which is an old oil painting. 

Many of them have their own framing 

elements. That would look good. Ink 

sketches are also good, like in the book 

Biomechanics. To cover the arm or the 

leg with biomechanical textures, same 

as I have done in my paintings, would 

be great. In a way, in my paintings, 

many of the figures already have tattoos. 

That is another way to see it. 

Another way would be to combine different 

details from several paintings in 

a new design. 

ITA: Do you think that artists whose 

works are used for tattoos should be 

paid royalties? 

HRG: No, it's an advertisement. 

ITA: You don't feel like your imagery 

should just be yours, and people 

should have to pay to use it? 

HRG: No. It's a third generation 

of using. A reproduction of a reproduction 

done by someone else. It's not 

the same. 

ITA: Had you ever seen a tattoo being 

done before you went to the New 

Jersey convention? 

HRG: No, I hadn't and I was very 

impressed, particularly about how 

quickly tattoos are applied. 

ITA: Tattoo artist Andrea refers to her 

clients who get tattoos of your paintings 

as "Giger collectors." 

HRG: Yes. In a way, they are my 

most important collectors. When

somebody buys my paintings, one hopes that it is 

because they love it and not just for an investment. 

With my tattoo collectors, one can be 

sure that they want to live with it forever. 

Certainly they won't sell it. 

ITA: If you were to get a tattoo, what 

would it be? 

HRG: Probably an "X" on my arm, so the 

doctor would know where to draw the 

blood. 

ITA: For the last half year, you've been 

assembling the tattoos of your paintings for 

a book. 

HRG: Yes. It was a surprise to find out that 

so many of my paintings also exist in another 

art form, which is what tattooing is. Now I'm 

curious to see and collect all of them. This book 

will be a "thank you" to my "living canvasses" and 

(this page, top) Work #557, Future Kill I, 1984. 

Tattoo by Jonathan Shaw, Fun City Studio, 

NYC. (center left) Tattoo by Andrea Elston, 

East Side, Inc., NYC. (center) Work #324, 

Satan I, 1977. (center right) Tattoo by Kevin 

Buckstrup, Tattoo Paradise, Lake Worth, FL. 

(bottom left) Tattoo by Steve, Tattooz by Steve, 

UK. (bottom right) Work #215, Landscape 

XVIII, 1973. (opposite page, top left) Work 

#261, Passage Temple (Life), 1974 (detail). (top 

right) Tattoo by Andrea Elston, East Side, Inc., 

NYC. (bottom left) Tattoo by Luiz Segatto, Tattoos 

By Lou, Miami Beach. FL. (bottom right) Work #600, 

The Redeemer, 1983-1987.

(top left) Work #85, Birth Machine, 1967. (top right) Tattoo by Chris 

Delany, Electric Ladyland Tattoo, NJ, photo © James Stiles. (bottom 

left) Tattoo by Chris Delany, Electric Ladyland Tattoo, NJ, photo © 

James Stiles. (bottom right) Poltergeist XXII (The Vortex), 1985.

their tattoo artists. It will be wonderful 

to have them together in one collection. 

A new book of Giger paintings 

which I didn't have to paint! I would 

also like to thank the tattoo community 

for publicizing this project, as well as 

the magazines, especially International 

Tattoo Art, for their continued 

announcements. It has been a really 

great help. 

ITA: What kind of response have you 

been getting? 

HRG: It's been excellent! We've 

received a lot, and new material comes 

in every week. The book, I think, will 

be as much of a revelation to me as it 

will be to readers and fans of my work. 

The earliest tattoo we have so far was 

done in 1975, before I became known 

for Alien. Also, we got a tattoo of my 

most recent design, the new skull logo 

I painted for Danzig. Last year at the 

Danzig concert in Zurich I saw a tattoo 

of my painting llluminatus 1. It was 

done better than my original. We 

didn't get a photograph of it and I 

don't know who the person was. If 

anyone reading this can find him, 

please let him know I very much 

would like a photograph of his tattoo! 

ITA: Speaking of Danzig, why do you 

have a lawsuit against him? 

HRG: Our agreement for the use of 

my 1976 painting The Master and 

Margarita and the new painting I 

made of the Dagger logo was only for 

use on the CD, cassette and album 

cover, not to sell on merchandising 

products. Later we found that sales of 

posters and T-shirts with my work 

were made without my permission, in 

violation of my copyright. 

ITA: Didn't you just do a cover for 

the English group Carcass? 

HRG: They bought the rights to my 

new sculpture, Life Support, which 

was in the Watch Abart exhibition, for 

(top left) Work #379, Alien I, Facehugger, 

1978. (top right) Tattoo by Rene Mannich, 

Slams Tattoo, East Germany. (center left) 

Tattoo by Agony. (center right) Work #352, 

Smoking Chair, 1977. (bottom left) Work 

#560, Portrait Barbara M. II, 1983. (bottom 

right) Tattoo by Rose Tattoo, France. 

37

their new album, Heartworks. 

ITA: In your early days as an artist 

did you ever imagine the possible 

influence your work would have on 

people? 

HRG: No, I couldn't have imagined it. 

I don't think any artist ever does. 

ITA: How did your Watch Abart 

Exhibition come about? 

HRG: Mr. Acevedo, the director of 

the Alexander Gallery and Gil Chaya, 

a Swiss collector, had purchased several 

of my paintings at an auction and 

from a collection in Paris and then 

contacted me to ask if I'd like to have 

a show in New York. I said I didn't 

think it would make much sense 

because I had already done exhibitions 

in New York and I didn't have any 

new paintings. They said they would 

buy up what was available in the market. 

Then they came to my exhibit at 

the Gallery Humus and bought more 

of my work and also some additional 

(opposite page, top left) Tattoo by Marcel 

Tattoo, Paris, France. (bottom right) Work 

#110, Phallelujah, 1968-1969. (top center) 

Work #264, Passage Temple (Way 

of the Magician), 1975. (top right) Tattoo 

by Chris Delany, Electric Ladyland, NJ. 

(center) Photo © Dana Frank, 1993. (bottom 

left) Work #255, Biomechanoid III, 

1974 (detail). (bottom center) Tattoo by 

Steve, Micky Sharpz Tattoo Studio, 

Birmingham, England. (this page, top left) 

Tattoo by Thomas Hanke, Living Colors 

Tattoo Studio, Germany. (top right) Tattoo 

by Andrea Elston, East Side, Inc., NYC. 

(center) Work #250, Li I, 1974. 

(bottom) Tattoo by Anil Gupta, 

Kaleidescope Tattoo, NYC.

40 

paintings from collectors. I felt more 

and more guilty because they spent a 

lot of money for all of these paintings. 

ITA: Why did you feel guilty? 

HRG: Because I thought if we did this 

show with only these older paintings— 

some of them twenty years old and the 

newest from 1986 or 1988, it would 

look like a retrospective. Critics would 

not review it because the work had 

already been seen. So I had to do 

something. Four years ago, I'd stopped 

working with an airbrush. I have been 

busy with design projects like the 

Giger Bar and film design for Alien 3. 

This returned me to three-dimensional 

design and ink drawings like I did in 

the 1960s. I had also started working 

on my Zodiac Fountain and my 

Swatch project. Together, with some 

of this new work, we decided to make 

the new show. 

ITA: Was Swatch involved in this 

exhibition? 

HRG: Not the Swatch company, only 

the Swatch watch. I have always been 

fascinated by the Swatch, an absolutely 

perfect object of design and function, 

so I was very happy when, three 

years ago, I was requested to design 

some watches for them. Finally an 

agreement couldn't be reached on a 

contract, but I continued on my ideas, 

anyway, for around a year and a half. 

(Giger is currently working on his own 

limited edition watches.) 

ITA: In which medium? 

HRG: At first, I did a series of oversized 

Maxiwatches which were shown 

at the Hilt Gallery in 1991, and all 

along I continued to do my ink drawings, 

some strange watch ideas, my 

Watch Abarts. (Abart is German for 

variation or deviation.) My watch for 

(top left) Female Torso, 1993, photo © 

Rotem, 1993. (top right) Cast aluminum, 

Giger Mask II, edition of 5, 1993, photo © 

Louis Stalder, 1993. (center right) 

Polyresin, cast aluminum and rubber, 

Harkonnen Capo Chair, original, photo © 

Steve Bonge, 1993. (bottom right) Female 

torso, photo © Rotem. (bottom left) Giger 

Mask II, photo © Louis Stalder, 1993. 

(center left) Photo © Willy Spiller, 1992.

WATCH ABART '93 

(top left) Chainswatch drawing. 

(top center) Darkwatch pin drawing. 

(top right) Exhibition catalog 

cover. (left center) Cast aluminum 

Winter Crosswatch, 1993, photo © 

Louis Stalder. (center) HRG with 

Rusty Maxiwatch, photo © Willy 

Spiller, 1992. (center right) Winter 

Crosswatch drawing. (bottom) 

Crosswatch with point of nail, 

Crosswatch, Crosswatch with head 

of nail, each an edition of 23, silver, 

photo © Kelly A. Brill, 1993.

lovers, The Crosswatch, a watch with 

four straplets in the shape of a cross, is 

unwearable. Since it's no longer functional, 

it becomes art. I work at home, 

in my bed, so I had a little machine to 

cut the watches into pieces, then I'd 

(opposite page, top left) Work #269, 

Biomechanoid 75, 1975. (top right) Tattoo 

by Tin-Tin, Paris, France, photo © Robin 

Perine, 1994. (bottom left) Tattoo by 

Bernie Luther, Vienna, Austria. (bottom 

right) Work #489, Humanoid I, 1970. (this 

page, top left and center) Tattoo by Andrea, 

East Side, Inc., NYC. (center left) Tattoo by 

Dave Fleet, Abracadabra Tattoo, So. 

Wales. (center) Work #472b, Debbie II, 

1981. (center right) Tattoo by Steve, 

Mickey Sharpz Tattoo Studio, Birmingham, 

England. (bottom left) Work # 489, The 

Tourist I, 1982 (detail). (bottom right) 

Tattoo by His Jorgensen, Tattooworld, 

Denmark. 

glued them together to get the 

Crosswatch and then I gave it to a 

foundry and they made them in rubber. 

I made several different types, some 

with the point of a nail, other with the 

head of a nail, coming out of the center. 

And then I had the idea that by 

connecting several Crosswatches they 

could be made into a Chainwatch, 

which can also be worn on the arm. In 

this way, I created many of the sculptures 

for the exhibition. 

ITA: What is the symbolism of 

the nail? 

HRG: The tip of the nail directed 

inward represents masochism or threat, 

the tip of the nail directed outward signifies 

defense, aggression or sadism. 

ITA: Must have been a little heavy 

for Swatch. 

43

(top) Work #496, The Tourist VIII, 1982. (top right) Tattoo by Snakeyes, Fun City Studio, 

NYC. (center, left) Tattoo by Randy Janson, Avalon Tattoo Studio, San Diego, CA. (center 

right) Danzig IV, 1992, Giger's version, painted for How the Gods Kill. (bottom left) 

Tattoo by Agony. (bottom right) Work #32, At The Doctor, ink drawing, 1965. (opposite 

page, top left) Tattoo by Rose Tattoo, Paris, France. (top right) Work #276, The Magus, 

1975 (detail). (bottom left) Work # 216, Landscape XIX, 1973 (detail). (bottom right) 

Tattoo by Andrea, East Side, Inc., NYC, photo © Robin Perine, 1994. 

44 

HRG: I showed Swatch everything. I 

sent them the exhibition catalog which 

we were working on, with the idea that 

they might want to be involved with 

the show with some sort of financial 

support. Instead of getting money, we 

got problems. They said that if we 

brought the catalog out as it was, there 

would be a lot of complications. We 

couldn't use the word Swatch in the 

title of the exhibition or in the titles of 

the sculptures. So we took away the 

"S." Swatch Abart became Watch 

Abart, the Swatchguardian became the 

Watchguardian, the Swatchcube 

became the Watchcube, and so on. 

They weren't amused by my little 

jokes, like Swatchholax, Suicideswatch 

and Orgasmiswatch. 

ITA: Did they think you were making 

fun of their product? 

HRG: Yes, but it wasn't like that. I 

mean, they were just jokes. 

ITA: I guess they don't have a sense 

of humor. 

HRG: No, not at all. Certainly not the 

black humor. I was very depressed 

about it because I expected a little 

more interest in it. But they were all 

serious, as if everybody in the company 

had personally invented the Swatch. 

Still, I have great respect for Nicolas 

Hayek, founder of the Swatch company 

and savior of the Swiss watch 

industry. One of my sculptures is done 

in homage to him. 

ITA: What's the reaction to your work 

in Switzerland? Do they regard you as 

a great artist or someone they're 

ashamed of? 

HRG: Somewhere in between. When I 

did my earlier work, before I worked 

for the cinema and got the Oscar (for 

Alien in 1979), I was taken seriously. 

After the Oscar they thought, that's 

cinema, that's Hollywood shit. 

ITA: So you were taken more seriously 

in the '70s? 

HRG: Yes, and I told this to the producer 

before I decided to do the movie. 

He said that the film would get me 

worldwide recognition. But what is 

that, when I want to be taken seriously? 

For a time, the museums even

stopped buying my paintings. And 

there always are those people who say 

that you can't make real art with an 

airbrush because it is used a lot for 

illustrations. 

ITA: So there's distinction because of 

how the art is done? 

HRG: Yes. It also happened with my 

sculpture, Female Torso. Because it 

was made of polyresin and rubber, the 

gallery didn't include it in the exhibition. 

The metal casts are often regarded 

more highly as art —but that's 

stupid. I think the form is more important 

than the material. You can't cast 

from nothing. The original sculpture 

done by the artist, whether in plaster, 

polyresin or rubber, is more authentic 

than the casts made from it. They were 

afraid it wouldn't be taken seriously as 

art. It was the last piece created, the 

culmination of many of the other concepts 

in the exhibition, beginning with 

the Crosswatch, the Chainwatch and 

then the arms, legs and heads. In the 

end it became the whole figure. While 

we were working on the catalog, and 

even after, I was still creating new 

sculptures and that's why this piece 

never appeared in the catalog. I had 

planned to cast an edition of Female 

Torso, but there wasn't enough time. 

Instead we only used it for the exhibition 

poster. It is interesting that, 

just after the exhibition was over, the 

original Female Torso was the first to 

be sold. 

ITA: I want to get back to something 

that you'd mentioned earlier, that you 

hadn't painted in four years, but it is 

the work you are best known for.... 

HRG: Yes, that's true. I have painted 

for over twenty years —I can do it 

again—and maybe it will look different. 

The last paintings I did were kind 

of three-dimensional. These were the 

Pump Excursions, a suicide that looks 

like an Indian playing the flute. He is 

sitting with the barrel of a pump-action 

shotgun in his mouth. I have such a 

gun at home. I did this painting four 

times, twice in black and white and 

twice in color. The color versions are 

different in textured relief. Since then I 

have also used the airbrush a few times 

on lithographs, but I did this in the old 

manner in which I worked between 

1966 and 1969 on my Atomic 

Children, cyberpunks wearing virtual 

(opposite page, top left) Tattoo by Peter Nyberg, Viking Tattoo, Sweden. (top center) 

Tattoo by Mick Tattoo, Zurich, Switzerland. (top right) Tattoo by Johnny "Junkfood" 

Niesten, Heerlen, Holland. (center right) Tattoo by Andrea Elston, East Side, Inc., NYC. 

(bottom right) Tattoo by Susan Duffy, Apocalypse Tattoo, Hoboken, NJ. (bottom center) 

Tattoo by Wayne Kendrick, Baton Rouge Tattoo Co., LA. (bottom left) Tattoo by Gregory 

Christian, Tennessee Mtn. Studio, Johnson City, TN. (center left) Tattoo by Patty Kelley, 

Avalon Tattoo Studio, San Diego, CA. (center) Cover, Alien Monster I (Giger's Alien), 

Work #106, 1978. (this page, left) Work #372, Alien III, 1978. (right) Tattoo by Guido 

Varesi-Fritschi, Varry's Tattoo Shop, Switzerland. 

47

48 

reality headpieces. I spray on transparent 

paper which is used by architects, 

and then I scratch away at it with a 

razor blade. I also use a paper with a 

special coating that's a little stronger. I 

can scratch away at it six or seven 

times without making a hole in it. 

ITA: I've been told that you're afraid 

of blood. Is that true? 

HRG: No, I like running blood. That 

was the reason I created this sculpture, 

Home Killer, 25 years ago, which is an 

hourglass filled with blood running 

over a head at its center. I believe that 

this piece stemmed from memories 

when I was in Catholic kindergarten. 

The nuns were always showing us pictures 

of Jesus, more precisely Jesus 

bleeding and how the blood ran over 

His face. They told us that this was 

because of the pain that we cause Him, 

because we are so evil. Twenty-five 

years later, when critics asked me why 

I liked running blood so much, I realized 

that this was the reason. I was 

very amused to remember this. 

ITA: What was the rest of your childhood 

like? 

HRG: Very safe. Very quiet. I had 

other kinds of problems. I had a great 

deal of pain with my teeth, my ears.... 

ITA: Medical problems? 

HRG: Yes. My father spent a great 

deal of money to fix my teeth. 

Probably thousands. A lot of illness. I 

had little accidents, things like that. 

Mostly from fighting with other boys. 

ITA: Did you dream much as a child? 

HRG: Yes. 

ITA: Nightmares? 

HRG: Yes, like every child. My parents 

went out to the cinema often. 

Maybe three times a week, and the 

lights in the house were turned off. 

I had to stay in the dark. 

ITA: Did you see things in the dark? 

(top left) Work #326, Sergius Golowin, 

1977. (top right) Tattoo by Andrea, East 

Side, Inc., NYC. (center left) Tattoo by Luiz 

Segatto, Tattoos by Lou, Miami Beach, FL. 

(center right) Poltergeist VII and VIII, 

1985. (bottom left) Work #344, Mirror 

Image, 1977. (bottom right) Tattoo by Bill 

Baker, Canada.

HRG: Oh, yes. All kinds of things. 

There were certain stories that made 

strong impressions on me. My mother 

always told me this one story about a 

person who went out to learn to conquer 

their fear. It was a fairy tale, 

probably a Hans Christian Andersen 

story. Horrible people, freaks. They 

were bowling with bones and skulls. 

Later on when I read the book myself, 

and I came nearer to the page where 

(top) Work #561, The Trumpets of Jericho, 

1983-1987 (detail). (bottom) Tattoo by 

Mike Ledger, Peter Tat-2, Hempstead, NY. 

(center left) Tattoo by Mike Austin, 

Canada. (center) Work #358, Illuminatus I, 

1978 (detail). (center right) Tattoo by Luke 

Atkinson, Ratattoo, Stuttgart, Germany. 

the illustration was, I couldn't look at 

it. It was the same when I first saw the 

drawings of Hieronymus Bosch. For 

me, they were like photographs of hell. 

ITA: And how old were you when you 

first saw them? 

HRG: I was probably five or six years 

old. It was during World War II when I 

saw them in a book, and I thought they 

could only have been photographed in 

earlier times. I think that, through seeing 

some of these pictures, I became 

the artist I am. 

ITA: Did you feel isolated from the 

chaos and war in Switzerland? 

HRG: I only remember that we had to 

go to a holiday house in the mountains, 

because it was feared that Hitler would 

49

come through Switzerland, and my 

father was an officer in the army, a 

medic. He had a pharmacy and was a 

doctor. So he sent me, my mother and 

her sisters up to this holiday house with 

Betty, my cousin. There were a lot of 

children in this little house in the mountains. 

I was only about three or four 

years old, but I have memories of this. 

ITA: Could you hear planes flying 

overhead? 

HRG: No. They were talked about, 

though. I remember the sirens and the 

blue lights. During the night we had to 

black out so that the Allied forces 

wouldn't bomb the town. We were 

very close to the border. 

ITA: Do you believe in God? 

HRG: Not too much. 

ITA: Do you believe in a separation 

between good and evil? 

HRG: Good and evil, they exist, but 

you can't separate them. It's like 

microcosm and macrocosm, balancing 

complements of a whole. Mostly, it's 

very personal. What is good for one, 

for another is evil. 

ITA: Is evil a concept or a physi 

cal reality? 

HRG: Evil always requires an action. 

It has to do with living creatures, even 

if they have no personality. I have pity 

for the suffering of all creatures or 

human beings. That, I cannot accept. • 

EDITOR'S NOTE: In order to 

bring you the most comprehensive 

interview with H.R. Giger possible, 

part of this interview was conducted 

in person during Giger's visit to New 

York by Lou Stathis and follow-up 

interviews were conducted via telephone 

and fax by Genevieve T. Movie. 

LAB2KAB, UNDER MY SKIN 4 EVER. 

(opposite page, top left) Work #311, Giger's 

Necronomicon, 1976. (inset) Work #212, 

Front Entrance Hall, 1972-1973 (detail). 

(top right) Tattoo by Andrea Elston, East 

Side, Inc., NYC. (bottom left) Tattoo by 

SuzAnne Fauser, Creative Tattoo, Ann 

Arbor, MI. (bottom right) Work #307, The 

Master and Margarita, 1976 (detail). (this 

page) H.R. Giger with Pump Excursion 

paintings, photo © Willy Spiller, 1992. 

ITA has the pleasure of giving you a preview of some of the work to be included in the book H.R. Giger Under 

Your Skin. For inclusion of your tattoo in the book, please send high-quality color transparencies (preferably taken 

by a professional photographer) against a dark or solid background. Include close-ups of the tattoo and, if possible, 

at least one shot with the person's face in the photo. Please include written information for each tattoo, the painting 

it is derived from, the names of the tattoo artist, the shop, the "collector" as well as the name of the photographer. 

Be sure to include all their addresses and telephone numbers. It will be assumed that publication rights are granted 

for all materials received. All photos will carry the © copyright of the photographer. 

Also send Giger-inspired flash or anything painted with Giger's designs, i.e. motorcycles, cars, clothing, etc. 

Send your contributions ASAP to: Leslie Barany Communications, 121 West 27th Street, Suite 202, New York 

City, NY, 10001, USA (PHONE #212 627-8488 FAX 212 463-7983) 

51

H.R. Giger - Out of the Shadows

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