Master of horror talks about his work

A look back at the life of award-winning Swiss artist HR Giger, who died this week aged 74. (SRF Ganz & Gloria, SRF Tagesschau / swissinfo.ch)

Hans Ruedi Giger was a surrealist painter, sculptor and set designer.

He was born in Chur, Switzerland in 1940, and later studied architecture and industrial design at Zurich’s School of Applied Arts.

He developed a freehand airbrush painting style that he used to great effect in his “biomechanical” landscape artworks.

He gained a new level of recognition following the publication of his book Necronomicon in 1977. It was this that inspired director Ridley Scott to hire Giger to produce concept art for his film Alien.

Giger and his team went on to win an Oscar in 1980 for Best Achievement for Visual Effects for their design work on this film.

The artist also created numerous designs for other blockbusters such as Poltergeist 2, Alien 3, Alien vs Predator and Prometheus.

In 1998 Giger acquired the Château St. Germain in Gruyères, Fribourg, which now houses the H. R. Giger Museum, a permanent repository of his work.

The artist lived and worked in Zurich with his wife, Carmen Maria Scheifele Giger, who is the director of the H.R. Giger Museum.

Giger died in hospital on May 12 after falling down some stairs.