A great loss to art.

And for our comic book fans (link shamelessly stolen from penny-arcade forums, where it was reposted by Echo:



Giger's Batman mobile.

A great loss of a massive talent. I've mentioned elsewhere I am a huge fan of 70's album cover art, and that is where I first encountered Giger's work...on the cover of ELP's Brain Salad Surgery, which opened up to reveal a second piece by Giger. 



The left is the outer cover which opens like a gateway to reveal the feminine image on the right. Still one of my favorite pieces by him. 

-M

His was a unique vision. Very disturbing when seen for the first time - and his artwork never really lost its impact, on me, at least, even after decades of familiarity. Like a lot of people my age, I imagine, my first exposure to his work was the ELP album mrp posted above, Brain Salad Surgery - which I bought when it came out largely because of the cover. We only had AM radio in Nfld at the time, so I wouldn't have heard any of their music before, except possibly Lucky Man, which might have been played the odd time. On the cd edition of BSS I have, the liner notes contain a brief account of the band's meeting with the artist that's worth reading.

A great loss. I just watched a few weeks ago the documentary about Jodorowsky's Dune, and Giger appeared in a few bits, talking about his involvement in the doomed project. As it's a pretty new release I was given the impression that the interview must have taken place not all that long ago (though, of course, there's no reason they couldn't have used much older footage) so it's all the more sad to think he's gone now after seeing him speak on film so recently.