Photo By Gail
The Birth Machine Baby sculpture pictured above was photographed by me in the Last Rites Gallery in Manhattan, which has a number original HR Giger pieces on display. Giger, who passed away in 2014 at the age of 74, is perhaps best known in popular culture as the designer of the Alien creatures in the film franchise of the same name, or, if you are a bit older, the designer of the cover of Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s 1973 epic prog rock masterpiece, Brain Salad Surgery. But his career was about so much more than that.
The limited edition Bullet Baby sculptures (30 in Bronze, 30 in Aluminum) sit inside the shell of a 9mm Luger Casing: the bottom surface of the sculpture is finished to look like a real bullet and is marked ‘9mm Giger,’ along with the artist signature and the edition number.
The inspiration for the Bullet Babies is the 1967, pen and ink Giger artwork, Birth Machine, a cut-away image of a fully loaded Walther pistol, in which the bullets are these crouching mechanical-looking babies.
Birth Machine, 1967 (Image Source)
The Birth Machine is HR Giger’s artistic manifestation of his strongly held belief that the greatest threat to our civilization is the approaching overpopulation of the planet. Conceived nearly 40 years ago, the Birth Machine Babies have made appearances in a number of Giger paintings. A Birth Machine Baby – as well as a sculptural representation of the Birth Machine painting – stands guard in front of the HR Giger Museum in Gruyères, Switzerland.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Art, Artist, Birth Machine Baby, Brain Salad Surgery, Bronze, Bullets, Giger Museum, Gruyères, HR Giger, Last Rites Gallery, Sculpture, Switzerland, Walther Pistol, Zero population Growth 