H. R. Giger's Retrospective: 1964-1984

Very good Giger book for those who can't afford the pricey ones.

When I bought this book, I was expecting it to be full of Giger's "as seen on TV" biomechanical art. And yes, those black-and-gray conflations of living tissue, buildings, and machines are well-represented, and it's great stuff-- cables, bones, human forms or parts of human forms, chitin, metal. The liquid, glossy motifs Giger uses are much more effective on a well-printed page than on a CRT, and it seems like every time I look at them, there's another nuance or detail or set of teeth or something that I hadn't noticed.But there's also a lot of stuff in here I hadn't seen before. The "Totems" toward the very end actually affected me more strongly than any of the classic biomechanisms.If you know what you're getting into, this is a good way to get examples of several types of work Giger's done besides the Alien/Species style. (He does have some all-biomechanical books as well, if that's your sole interest.)

...H. R. Giger has been a fave of mine for years--even before "Alien" and "Species". I was silently pleased when some of his work was lent to medium other than the sci-fi and slick 'zines he was noted for doing--deb harry's solo project's album cover, for one. These are visions of biological organisms as mechanisms and of architecture as anatomy with, for instance, veins and sinews as electrical conduits and potable water lines and sewers as ligaments and ribs and tissue...living organisms have a mechanical metallic sheen, bridges and sewers and scaffolds have mouths and faces and deformed bodies that may be human or may not...they are sensuous at times, horrific at other times, but they all are bold and eye-catching modern art...it is almost like he has vision of a nightmare future...see how he's developed his style throughout the years in this great, great book...

Again it has been done! As a true fan and admirer of Giger's work I can safely say that this is a good collection of some of Giger's best work. If you are looking for a lot more of Giger's Alien and Species work, you won't find it here though. I saw a lot of Gigers work in this book that I haven't seen in any of his other books!