Swiss artist H. R. Giger dies at the age of 74

The renowned Swiss artist H. R. Giger, passed away yesterday in a hospital located in Zurich due to injuries sustained in a fall. He was 74 years old.

Hans Rudolf Giger was a surrealist painter, sculptor and set designer. He was widely known for his creatures and sets created for Ridley Scott's Alien films. As a result, he was awarded with an Oscar for special effects in 1980.
Giger also contributed with his work for Poltergeist II - The Other Side,  Tokyo - The Last Megalopolis, among several other films, as well for the computer game Dark Seed (1995).
He also did some work for recording artists and colaborated with Ibanez Guitars  for the H. R. Giger Signature Models.

Born in 1940, Giger moved to Zurich in1962 where he studied interior and industrial design at the School of Commercial Art in Zurich (from 1962 to 1965).
He had a relationship with Swiss actress Li Tobler untill 1975, when she commited suicide. In 1979 he married Mia Bonzanigo, but the divorced a year and a half later.



The work of the American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft had great influence on H. R. Giger's art. Such is this that his compendium of images Necronomicon (there's a version with an introduction by Clive Barker) is a clear refererence to Lovecraft's made up book with the same name.
The original signed book is housed in the H R Giger museum at the Château St. Germain in Gruyères Switzerland.
Ernst Fuchs and Salvador Dali, to whom he was introduced by painter Robert Venosa were inspirations sources for Gigger who was also a personal friend of Timothy Lear.

Giger started with small ink drawings, then progessed to oil painting. During his career, he worked predominantly in airbush, but also created works with pastels, markers and ink.
Much of his work depicts surreal and monochromatic dreamscapes, often with biomechanical human bodies interconnected with a mechanical world as well as alien species and nightmarish elements. Several erotic references can also be found in his works.

The H. R. Giger Museum, housed in the Château St. Germain in Gruyère, Switzerland, holds a permanent repository of his work.  The artist lived and worked in Zürich with his wife, Carmen Maria Scheifele Giger, who is the Director of the museum.

Antoni Tàpies passed away at the age of 88

Born in Barcelona, 13 December 1923, Antoni Tàpies i Puig, 1st Marquess of Tàpies, was son of lawyer Josep Tàpies i Mestre, and María Puig i Guerra, Antoni Tàpies studied law during 3 years, but from 1943 onwards he starts devoting himself to painting.

In 1948, Tàpies helps co-found the first Post-War Movement in Spain known as Dau al Set, headed by its founder the poet Joan Brossa and connected to the Surrealist and Dadaist Movements.

Tàpies held his first solo exhibition in 1950, at Galeries Laietanes (Barcelona) and participated in the Carnegie International in Pittsburgh. That same year, the French government awarded Tàpies a scholarship that enabled him to spend a year in Paris.
His work would be ardently promoted in Europe and beyond by the influential French critic and curator Michel Tapié.

Influenced by Paul Klee and Joan Miró, he stated essentialy a self-taught surrealist painter. However he would become an informal artist, working in a style known as pintura matèrica, in which non artistic materials are incorporated into the paintings, also known as matière painting, or Art Informel. His work is associated with both Tachisme and Abstract Expressionism.

On 9 April 2010, Tàpies was raised into the Spanish nobility by King Juan Carlos I with the hereditary title of Marquess of Tàpies.

The Fundació Tàpies, in Barcelona, is a museum dedicated to the life and work of the artist. He is represented by The Pace Gallery in New York.

Antoni Tàpies i Puig passed away today 6 January 2012. He was 88 years old.

These are sad news for the arts in particularly for the Iberian Peninsula, after yesterday's death of the Portuguese artist Fernando Lanhas, also aged 88.

"Surreal Visions" by SlowArt Productions

Artists worldwide, with 18 years of age or older, are welcome to enter the "Surreal Visions" competition presented by SlowArt Productions and have the chance to see their work exhibited at the Limner Gallery.

The exhibition will accomodate all forms of surreal and visionary figurative art derivative from the artist's interpretation of the Surreal Visions concept.
All interpreatations will be reviewed and considered.

All forms of art including drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, installation, graphics, digital, video, etc. are eligible.
Entrants should observe the size limits mentioned in the restrictions.

Winning artists will be featured in a group exhibition of near twenty works, at the Limner Gallery, September 3 - October 1, 2011, which will also be displayed on the gallery's website.
One artist will be awarded a two page display in Direct Art Magazine Volume #19, Fall 2012 issue. Two artists will be awarded a single page display.

All works in the show must be for sale. The gallery will take a 30 percent commission on all sales. Sale price is determined by the artist.

Images must be sent in JPG format (1 MB or less in size) via email or web post with direct html link to a dedicated web page.
Videos artists may post on a web page or on YouTube and provide a link to the page.

There is a $35.00 entry fee for one to four artworks entered, with a $5.00 fee for each additional artwork above four. Details of 2D artwork count as an additional artwork. Sculptors may provide one additional view per artwork without cost.
On regular bases shipping costs will be supported by the artists.

Artists will be notified of acceptance or non-acceptance no later than July 20, 2011. Results will be posted on or before this date at SlowArt's Results page.

Entry deadline for "Surreal Visions" is June 30, 2011.
More information and an e-mail contact are available in the submission guidelines.

Arnau Alemany at the Michelle Boulet Gallery

Situated in Paris (France), the Michele Boulet gallery presents the works from the surrealist spanish painter Arnau Alemany.
Arnau was born in Barcelona and studied at the Massana School of Art of Barcelona, graduating with honours.
Included in the Spanish Surrealist Museum, he is recognized as one of the leading surrialists worldwide.
His paintings can be seen at the gallery until February 28th, 2009.