leading from
a) Recognising Guernica
On the 3rd of March 2016, I took a good look at the 1972 painting Assuan by HR Giger which was one of his first paintings with this freeflowing organic imagery after wondering about its origins, and having no so long ago noticed his interests in Guernica through his painting Anima Mia done in the 1980s, I noticed that Assuan too has elements in common with Pablo Picasso's Guernica from 1937, with the light at the top in Picasso's painting becoming the central point as the halo of the central figure and the horse's nose and mouth has been reflected becoming her breasts. This painting also looks like a modern rendition of general theme of "Day of Judgement". Assuan is an Egyptian city once named Swenett after a goddess.
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| Pablo Picasso's Guernica (1937) |
b) Human reaching up to the sky
As if the the building on the far right has been moved towards the left of the centre. The human reaching up into the sky and the sloping structure beneath him on the far right has become part of the frame work on the right turning into figures and rooftops fused together with cross supports
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| right of Giger's Assuan and Picasso's Guernica |
c) The bulls head
The bulls horns show up extending from a figure in the background and and the forehead of the bull is transformed into the woman's dformed head with spikes seeming to stick out from bhind it.
The tail of the bull is transformed into partial crossbones. The woman's cleavage has been transformed into the belly of a human.
Giger would return to the Guernica for his painting Anima Mia in the 1980s
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| left of Picasso's Guernica and Giger's Assuan |
d) Comparison to Australian Aboriginal artwork
7th March 2016. After having found comparisons between HR Giger's Biomechanical Landscape (work 312) (1976) and a piece of rock art said to be in Kimberley in Western Australia. I found that a another cave painting in Nourlangie rock art from Kakadu in Australia, provides us with the image of a floating woman with breasts going horizontally to the side and buttocks or genitals forming insect like mandibles and perhaps the upper legs transform into the insect eyes here enough to inspire Giger. A central line going up the body of the cave painting that almost looks like a zipper becomes a phallus in Giger's art. This character in the rock art represents, Barrginj who was the wife of Namarrgon who are both parents to a mythological character Aljurr (Aljurr means little lightning) or the Leichhardt's grasshoppers (Petasida ephippigera) (See http://www.schoensleben.ch for more about the mythology of the cave art)
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| Barrginj and central figure in Giger's Assuan |
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| Barrginj |
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| Nourlangie rock art in Kakadu in Australia |
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