Vidocq

Leading from

alien resurrection

a) Pitof's movie "Vidocq" was released in 2001. It featured the 19th Century detective Vidocq hunting down an ancient alchemist who was using magical means to kill various people. Vidocq tracked the alchemist to his layer where hung many dozens of bodies inverted from the rafters and their blood dripped down a network of pipes and ducts into an iron womb like tank below to feed this strange featureless mirror mask inside. There was an idea from a script by Joss Whedon for Alien Resurrection in which in there was in the queen alien's lair , many the victims upside down in cocoons with their blood dripping down into the pool where the Queen lay with her womb about to give birth to the Newborn and the blood was feeding the Newborn creature. 

Sylvain Despretz conceptart for the queen's layer in Alien Resurrection

b) Pitof worked in the special effects department for Alien Resurrection and was a well known collaborator of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's having worked in his previous films. In fact there were talks with Pitof with the idea that he would be directing the fifth installment for Alien, but he bowed out and made his detective action movie Vidocq. Seeing the movie, one might wonder if he actually borrowed at least one idea from the Alien Resurrection production and expanded on it.  The film enabled the director to have a brief stint with Hollywood with his ill received movie Catwoman. Vidocq over the years, despite not being a film much talked about years later did retain a cult following.

hanging dead bodies in Vidocq

inverted head of hanging dead body in Vidocq

visible arms of a hanging dead body in Vidocq

inverted hanging dead body in Vidocq

blood trickling down into bowls

bowls collect blood that enter an iron womb

the alchemists lair

c) The Alchemist mask leading to the Deacon?
And then looking at the ways ideas flowed further into the distance of time, one might look at the possibility that this film Vidocq might have been a noteworthy movie to take notice of when it came to exploring the future of Alien concepts as much as it did for me.  I personally had the idea of having an alien with this creature's featureless face because it got to the point where thinking about the face of the Alien, one had to step back and realise that there was no way to make any further impact beyond what Giger had given us with the Alien's face in cinema.   

In 2012, the images of the Proto-Alien are revealed as designed by a group of designers followed Ridley Scott's ideas and the head is seen by numerous people to resemble a cycling helmet with a smooth featureless face. This creature was nicknamed by Ridley Scott as the Deacon and he thought that the point of the head was the evil Deacon's mitre. I thought that the answer I had for designing a new face seemed to reach a similar situation. And this mask of the alchemist ended at the top in a point slightly like that of the Deacon's but not at long

Did Pablo Gargallo's horse sculptures inspire Salvador Dali's Autumnal Cannibalism?

leading from

Salvador Dali

Top left: Gargallo's "Urano", (1933)
bottom left: Gargallo's "Petit cheval de cirque " (1932).
Right: Salvador Dali's "Autumnal Cannibalism" (1936)

In an issue of Tate Magazine around August 2001, Jason Rosenthal revealed a previously unacknowledged source for Dali's iconic painting 'Autumnal Cannibalism' as being Pablo Gargallo's bronze sculpture "Urano", however the body itself look so directly like the form of the horse that was buried in Dali's painting.

On Jan 17th 2014 I found an image of Gargallo's "Petit cheval de cirque " which when it has parts of it mixed with parts of "Urano". The back leg and lower part of the stomach seemed to have lended themselves much more openly to Dali's needs

Giger and the tale of the Scarecrow

leading from

Development of Giger's art

sketch from 1961 published in the book Giger ARh+

As a child, HR Giger was told the story of a scarecrow and the impressions that it left followed him through life and he noticed that it occasionally found its way into his artwork. He thought that this stake-bound life showed him the senselessness of existence, and existence better never begun. Many of his works reflected this hopeless state of enslavement which left no room for religious beliefs  He lived much of his life with a nihilist point of view but towards the end of his life, he actually felt quite fulfilled.

Sources Quotes

1. HR Giger: The first impaled figure to fascinate me as a child was a living scarecrow in a local fairytale, which I made my mother read me again and again. I think this stake-bound life, for whom redemption meant death as soon as possible, showed me the senselessness of existence. An existence better never begun. Many of my works reflect this state of hopeless enslavement which leaves no room for religious beliefs.  (Giger ARh+ , p26, 2001)
2. Petra Wallace, via email : In HR Giger ARh+, you speak of a story your mother used to tell about a scarecrow, and how it spoke to you as a child about the "senselessness of existence". Do you still feel that existence is worthless today? Or, given the passing years, has life become more important to you? Does life make more sense the older you get?
   HR Giger:The story you are referring to is a fairy tale which impressed very much in my early youth and has followed me through life. Such dark fairy tales left quite an impression with me at the time. It has occasionally also found its way into my work. I actually do feel quite fulfilled with my life these days. (Bizarre Magazine  #195, 2012)