The Swiss artist H.R. Giger influenced the direction of my own art like no other, especially after seeing an exhibition by him in the fall of 1993 at the Alexander Gallery in New York City.
Being a science fiction fan I enjoyed the film Alien by Ridley Scott, who had Giger design the sets and the alien creature, but I still thought of Giger's art as talented but adolescent.
What drew me to the exhibit was that it was a dual presentation of both Giger and Robert Crumb. I was not about to miss the chance to see the original pages of comics drawn by Crumb. It was fantastic! I was amazed by the way Crumb had these crisp lines and very little overworking of the drawings. How did he do it? It just seemed to come out perfect.
After I finished ogling the Crumb exhibit I went over to the second entrance to see Giger's work. This art was of a different order altogether. The floors of at least one room were covered with cast-aluminium planks which clanked with a metallic sound as people walked around. Several life-size "Swatches" with holograms in their faces met you in the first room.
One of these was entitled "Lilith and Baphomet". It was a ten-pointed star resembling a pentagram with a horned goat's head and a woman (Lilith) spread-eagle and being penetrated by a third horn emanating from the goat's head.
I was an atheist at the time so I thought it was just Giger's fevered imagination latching on to some bad-boy Satanic imagery to shock people.
I also was totally entranced by the intensity and scope of the art which I had not understood previously. At that time I had no understanding of the occult and its practical and ongoing use by leading members of society worldwide.
A quick perusal of the exhibit catalog as well as his entire ouvre, and it's easy to see this guy is up to his neck in pure Satanism.
Winged demons, pentagrams, "El Diablo" handsigns, all-seeing eyes, pyramids are all part of his iconography.
An interesting sculpture is the "Emblem For A Secret Society"
The show I saw in 1993 was entitled "Watch Abart" as Giger was apparently obsessed with Swatches-he is from Switzerland-and the word abart means variation or deviancy. Giger was not allowed into the Swatch group exhibit with other major artists because his art is obviously not product-placement friendly, at least not by Swatch standards.
The sculpture "Life-Support" is a large aluminium peace sign (the broken cross) with two arms linked so as to be one, in the manner of the crucifixion, with an intravenous blood pouch connected to both wrists. It was used as album-cover art for the band Carcass.
Although this could be interpreted as Christianity being on life support, I cannot help but be reminded of Arizona Wilder's mention of (real or not) Reptilian entities feeding off of human blood from the Red Cross, so as to retain their human form.
Speaking of the alleged Reptiles, Giger's "Zodiac Fountain" features a pisces sculpture of a combined hand-foot with distinctly reptilian features. First thing to come to mind is Oannes the fish god who came from the sea in the form of both a man and a fish and taught humanity how to build cities, the sciences, geometry, law and all the other crap which keeps us down.
Giger also designed an underground tunnel transportation system for Switzerland in the form of a pentagram, with a large pyramidal edifice at each point, or entrance. It should be noted that he trained as an architect.
Check out this video and the pentagram with the talismans which he is obviously using to draw down demonic spirits...
Giger was also supposedly good friends with Timothy Leary and Stanslav Grof.
Trans-personal psychology is basically the new (age) religion. Check out this staff, dude!
H.R. is also way into this "bio-mechanical" thing that the Transhumanists are into.
Of couse this guy lives in Switzerland which is famous for their bank accounts and never being invaded during the world wars. It is also the birthplace of the Red Cross.
He has an art museum in the Château St. Germain,Gruyeres,Switzerland. The emblem for the museum is, of course, a pentagram.
Are we talking high priest, or what?
I can personally attest to the almost unconcious pull of Satanic energy. It seemed to happen quite often when I lived in New York City... It is definitely something to be avoided because it is anti-human and definitely anti-God. As an atheist I thought this guy was just playing around, banishing his demons, but it's pretty clear to me that he is summoning them. Who in their right mind would want to do that?
6 comments:
I think his artwork is amazing. The true power of darkness lies in what is unseen, through Gigers art we can see the darkness and understand fear, death, libidinal urges etc. It may look dark and demonic, yes, but to me it also has great beauty and elegance. I'm not suggesting that we take lightly what we deem to be terrifying or threatening, for danger would lie there, but we should also accept that it is another expression of life and to some, that which has dark intentions but disguises itself in a mask of wholesomeness and light can be just as malevolent if not more so. It's kind of like with nature programmes, I would never want to be confronted with sharks or bats, but from a distance I can see the beauty in their world and that there is more to them than just monstrousness. I know what you mean about New York, I really love the place, but it definitely has a certain vibe to it. A lot of big cities do, Liverpool does and Paris does especially. Anyway nice post, thanks for sharing.
Giger's art is intense and I feel the reason for this is his use of pentagrams and other symbols as a way of harnessing demonic power, not simply turning over a rock in his subconcious.
I agree that good can pose as bad, consiously or unconciously and maybe it's better that Giger is being open, but I feel he is serving the evil one...
That being said, I appreciate your thoughtful comments. Pandas are such excellent creatures!
What is his history? What are the conditions upon which he grew? What are his experiences? How does he feel feelings? I've learned through life that all is balance, and it must be achieved. Nature, after all, abhors a void. Through my various religious travels (I started as a devout, and pious little christian drone) I have found that evil is not some being that drives demonic masses for the conquest of a tiny little stellar afterbirth. We as humans make evil, and we make good. Giger's work is a purging. While he does have the typical talismans that christians are taught to be terrified of, it doesn't mean he is a hellspawn. I have crosses in my home next to a plethora of pagan symbols. God is one. Failing to see that only separates a person from it (or him/her, if one prefers to be so homo(sapiens) centric.)
That said, I understand and recognize the fear that such things create, particularly in the religious. But please don't let your fear drive your views. Instead of speaking against the 'satanic' imagery, why don't you research it? Find out where and when it came from. You may find something new, something that makes you far more fulfilled.
A body cannot get nutrition from one food source alone. Gigers work is not the red berry you think it is.
Well, my friend. I don´t think you were ever an atheist. Atheism is all about the emancipation of reason over superstition, i.e., religion. When you say that "Oannes the fish god who came from the sea in the form of both a man and a fish and taught humanity how to build cities, the sciences, geometry, law and all the other crap which keeps us down" you are basically saying that the things that emancipates man are bad things. I don´t know if Giger is a satanist or not, and frankly I don´t care. If he wastes his time praying for the empty space he is in no better condition that the religious people, who also waste their lives praying to the void. All I know is that Giger is an amazing artist.
The understanding I have of the universe and how it came to be is not one of fear and I am not out to dismiss atheists or those who have a different concept of the nature of reality.
I do think, however, that there are ancient beings in existence who actively work against what I would call the one and only God.
I am not a Christian and cannot myself sit through the stifling atmosphere called Sunday Morning.
When I talk about all the things that keep us down, I glibly meant spiritually.
Also, reality, I believe, has been constricted by focusing on our successes in the material world.
I see this world, this human dimension, as an experiential way-station, one that will hopefully re-focus our thoughts on the originator and maintainer of all realities.
We cannot ignore the realities of our physical situation, but neither do we need to wallow in them.
I hope it is clear that while I have an appreciation for Giger, I cannot help but see him as tapping into foolish and dangerous dimensions.
I just saw Prometheus and was spiritually distubed by it. I wondered if there were demonic influences involved, and this site has confirmed my suspicions. I am protestant and i used to be an atheist nihilist, and always thought Giger's work was fascinating. I love the atheist who gets on here and tells someone "they weren't really an atheist" as if there is some kind of doctrine or atheist credo or it is some kind of religion. Dipshit.
(From my Droid Bionic)
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