Brigi d Marli n Miche l d e Sain t Oue n Photos : Krisztin a Laza r The members of the committee At five o'clock precisely, on were thrilled when we were Thursday, the weary trio was informed that the Society was blasted awake by a brass band invited to exhibit at the prestig- playing under the window. Be- ious and world-renowned Mu- ing pitch dark and, up to then, seum HR Giger at the Chateau remarkably silent the sound of St. Germain in Gruyeres. We brass instruments seemed in- knew it would be a complex credibly loud and we leapt out undertaking but, as it was an of bed as if the place was on opportunity of a lifetime, we fire. They played one tune and knuckled down and set about silently marched away never to organising the exhibition. be seen again. After a juried selection of the We eagerly waited to join in the works the paintings started ar- celebrations but zilch...nothing riving at Brigid's house and happened. We later learnt that were stored in her studio. this year another village had (What would we do without her been selected for the festivi- kindness?) ties. The three of us spent the Switzerland is not in the Euro- The entrance to the exhibition - through day unwrapping the works and the museum and along the balcony pean Union so we had to ob- stacking them in size order to tain custom documents. This make it simple to select the was bureaucracy at its crazi- customs, at the leaving port, before next day. est. It meant unpacking every departing from the UK. We were work, weighing it, noting down booked on the 11.00 o'clock Euro- Laurie Lipton and I (Brigid), its size and its author then tunnel shuttle and we arrived at the flew to Switzerland on Thurs- making a thumbnail picture to terminal in plenty of time. We went day. We checked into our hotel include in a massive document in search of a custom official to be and went out to have dinner, which had to be typed and re- told that there were none stationed and we encountered the intrep- produced in triplicate (of there, and one would have to come id trio walking down the street course). This cost the Society from Dover or Folkestone. That - it could have been an amaz- £320 for the privilege of doing would take half an hour. Three ing coincidence except for the all this work. These sorts of hours later, after having waited pa- fact that there is only one road expenses are what make or- tiently in the car-park, we finally got in and out of the section of ganising exhibitions so prohibi- clearance and managed to get on Gruyeres where the museum is tive. Many hire firms do not the 14.30 shuttle. located. It is a tiny but very allow their vehicles to leave the The journey after that was une- picturesque place. Every UK so, after a prolonged ventful; we spent the night in house is decorated in the search we found one that Reims, and we arrived in Gruyeres Swiss style and the entire vil- would allow the van to be used the next afternoon. Giger had gra- lage is dominated by the Cha- in Europe for an added premi- ciously invited us (Michel, Eike and teau St. Germain. um of £220 (another extra Christina) to use his flat, which is Over the meal we were regaled cost) above the daily cost of part of the museum, as a base. We by the trio's adventures and hiring and insurance. When had arrived a day early because on arranged for an early start, the Michel collected the custom the Thursday, a religious holiday, next day, to get the works on documents it was stressed that traffic would be unable to enter the the walls. It looked like an im- they had to be stamped by village. possible task - the store room

An artist has no need to express his thought directly in his work for the latter to reflect its quality pdf created by www.littlegiger.com Marcel Proust 1871-1922 was overflowing The official open- with the art works ing was on Satur- and, at first day, June 17th, at glance, the hang- 17.00 hours. That ing space seemed morning Eike and inadequate. This Michel went into is where the idea the nearest town of arranging the to buy food so that works by size we could invite proved to be a life- some of the art- saver. By dint of ists, who had trav- hanging the larg- elled to Gruyeres, est pictures first, for lunch. We ate and then fitting the in the kitchen of medium and the flat while look- smaller ones ing at a magnifi- around them, the cent view over the rooms began to Michel, Brigid, Laurie and Eike hard at work! countryside and take shape. It was wonderful to see that each exchanging excited news, ideas and observa- artist on the hanging committee had such a tions. We don't often get the chance to meet beautiful vision as to how the works should be overseas artists so it is always exciting when arranged. Unfortunately none of the visions co- we get a chance to do so. incided! Things were getting heated when it was After lunch we changed into our finery, and suggested that we elect one person who would gathered in the exhibition rooms to await Giger, make the final decision. Michel was elected, and who had graciously agreed to open the show. It he had some tough decisions to make! Artists is no surprise that we were beginning to be are lovely people but can become quite temper- nervous - would Giger like the show? After an amental at times. After the pain was over, the anxious wait we heard that Giger had arrived. rooms began to take shape - each artist's vision There was a large crowd gathered to see him contributed to the overall effect, and when we He has film star status in Switzerland: News- stood back, the miracle had happened - we had men and television crews recorded his arrival. a cohesive exhibition, It was a tense time for us. He looked around before he beamed and walls and ceilings you said This is a very good would be rewarded with show! All the works are cheese. excellent and yet so differ- He was toying with a new ent and we are very creative idea - a chute pleased to have the Socie- from the top floor of the ty exhibiting with us." Museum which would al- We all cheered as much low people to slide down with relief as appreciation. to the bottom in a hair-rais- Later Giger and Carmen ing ride. I didn't fancy it invited the organisers and myself. I Told Giger that some of the artists to a Eike Erzmoneit, who was celebration dinner at a sitting opposite us, had nearby restaurant. We all hung every single paint- sat at a huge table and ing. "He is a miracle!" I most of us had cheese fon- exclaimed. Giger, who due - a speciality of the was sharing an enormous region. Giger told me that cheese fondue pan with the restaurant was very old Eike, remarked that he al- and had been serving so was a great trencher- cheese fondue for so long man. Eike had achieved that if you scraped the the near impossible task of Giger, Michel and Brigid Various aspects of the upstairs and downstairs galleries

finishing the vast amount of melted cheese in front of them and Giger smiled at him and said that this was miracle-working too! It was a time to be remembered - Giger sitting in the middle of the golden lights of the restaurant like a happy paterfamilias and all the artists in his magic circle suddenly becoming, for a moment, part of his family - the family of the brotherhood of art. It was hard to leave after so many new friendships had been formed - and such an exciting atmosphere had been created - however we were left with the satisfying feeling that all the hard work and planning had paid off and the Society had launched a historic show!

Listen! There never was an artistic period. There never was an Art-loving nation. James McNeill Whistler 1834-1903 REVIEW PUBLISHED IN THE FREIBURGER NACHRICHEN MAGAZINE (SWITZERLAND)

Jurgen Geier's work contrasting with a Giger door at the Museum HR Giger

Review of the Gruyeres exhibition which ap- LONG TRADITIONS: peared in the FREIBURGER NACHRICHTEN in German There have always been artists who followed their own visions rather than the current predominant IN THE REALM OF FANTASY trends in art. Early exponents of were Jan and Hubert van Eyck and Hieronymus Bosch. By Carol Schneuwly The work of the great painters of the Italian Renais- sance such as Sandro Botticelli and Leonardo da 50 artists show their personal visions in a spe- Vinci can also be placed in this tradition. Pieter cial exhibition in the Museum HR Giger in Gruy- Brueghel the Elder, Rembrandt and William Blake eres are other examples. In the 19th and early 20th centuries it was amongst In 1995 the Society for Art of Imagination was found- others, the French Symbolists Gustave Moreau and ed in England. It is a kind of brotherhood of artists Paul Gauguin, the Norwegian Edvard Munch and devoted to surreal and fantastic art. At the Museum Gustav Klimt in Austria who put their stamp on HR Giger in Gruyeres the Society is exhibiting on fantastic art. After the First World War surrealists like the European mainland for the first time. Max Ernst, Rene Magritte and Salvador Dali ex- plored the subconscious. At the end of the Second Fantastic art is as boundless as the human imagina- World War the School of Fantastic Realism tion. It is impossible to lump the artists who are emerged. This was in sympathy with , and active in this field into a common denominator. consisted of artists such as Ernst Fuchs, Erich Brau- There are attempts to use terms such as Surrealism er, , and Anton Le- or Fantastic Realism, Magic Realism or Visionary hmden. Art to describe these works. Behind those and simi- lar labels hides the endeavour to express personal VARIETY IN TECHNIQUES AND CONTENTS visions, dreams and emotions beyond realism and abstraction, in other words, fantasies in all their The current exhibition "Art of Imagination" provides variety. a fascinating insight into contemporary fantastic art. Fifty artists from all over the world, but mainly from The exhibition offers something for every taste. the Anglo-Saxon regions are showing their visions Romantic dreamlike work like Penny G's and fantasies. All artists are members of the Society "Guinevere" or Jenny Reynish's "Secret" contrasts for Art of Imagination, an international collective for with something dark/nightmarish like Stephen the promotion of fantastic art. The Society wants to Lombardi's "The Worm that Screamed" or Marcus make this kind of art more popular with group exhi- Usherwood's frightening vision of "Mengele's Pri- bitions. On first view only one thing is clear when vate Zoological Garden". entering the exhibition: the immense variety that Whether the works makes the viewer happy or sad, makes fantastic art both in technique as well as inspire ideas or inspires anger or bewilderment one content so exciting. The mische technique, using thing is clear - they leave nobody untouched. both oil paint and tempera, is popular as propagated "All exhibits are very personal" says Ingrid Lehner, by Ernst Fuchs, Honorary President, and his pupil curator of the Museum Giger. "The artists live their Brigid Marlin, founder of the society. But there are dreams and fantasies in their work without any also the almost photographic-like pencil drawing of restrictions. That is really an ability of children that Laurie Lipton, the oil paintings of Jurgen Geier, the many adults have lost." works in ink of Michel de Saint Ouen and Vincent In the Museum HR.Giger one can perhaps find a Castiglia who mixes ink with his own blood. piece of this ability again.

THE ARTISTS ARE LIVING THEIR DREAMS Danie l Woodwar d

The divine seeing itself in the mirror is beauty, psychic shell of recursive behaviour patterns and you are the divine and you are the mirror. and cycles. This heart-opening epiphany is the theme depicted in many of Andrew Andrew Gonzalez, of San Antonio, Texas, has Gonzalez images. been depicting the human form as temple and In times of secular materialism, it is rare that we vessel sublimed by transformative forces for have the eyes to see this serendipity. That is over 15 years. Empowered by an artistic mis- why it is good to have paintings such as these, sion to transform the collective imagination, to remind us of celestial mercy that overwhelms Gonzalez wields with masterly sensitivity the consciousness with its lightness, highness and evanescent medium of airbrush and acrylic, purity. Andrew Gonzalez describes one such and succeeds in bringing forth images of the experience, as being enveloped in a fiercely profound, heart-piercing tenderness of the an- radiant golden light, moving rapidly towards its gelic encounter with what he calls the transfig- blazing white centre. I felt what could only be uring biosophic flame. described as a sense of being reborn. The Angels are manifestations of Logos, divine sweet ambrosia of the Great Spirit removes messengers and healers, performing unfath- blockages and opens up sacred centres in the omable illuminating and redemptive functions body that transmit and receive spiritual light. within the celestial and terrestrial matrix. This transfiguration is the remedy to self-perse- Winged and resplendent, angels pursue the cution and existential angst. shadows of ignorance and darkness, shining, The images brought into being by Gonzalez like the sun, without preference, nurturing depict both the orientation to and embodiment of love upon the most humble of beings, helping the biosophic energies of celestial grace and them to transcend their limitations. Angels force. In that light, we are endlessly purified, help the soul to hatch out of its enclosure, its fresh and new, ever renewing, ever-resurrected

Minds are like parachutes. They only function when they are open. Sir James Dewar 1842-1923