Biomechanic Landscape II (work 319)
inspired by artwork for Gustave Meyrink's The Golem

leading from
and


Vice, Biomechanic Landscape II (work 319) and Aaron Wassertrum


Biomechanic Landscape II (work 319)

a) 18th August 2015, I'm looking for evidence of Giger being further inspired by Hugo Steiner Prag's artwork for Gustave Meyrink's The Golem.

Giger's painting contains approximately three figures, two on the left, one tall with a semi transparent head and a pipe from the face leading to a container like an exhaust silencer from a motorbike, and before him a smaller humanoid with a dog like snout.

On the right is tall humanoid with a face and ear seen from the side barely noticeable, and a pipe coming out of the back of the head.

I'd like to say that although we'll find comparisons between Giger's paintings and the artwork for The Golem, it is also a very complicated painting with numerous interesting details that one could only barely guess at

Aaron Wassertrum by Hugo Steiner Prag
b) Reversing Aaron Wassertrum
I took  look at the pictures further and noticed the bow shaped handle on the saw that was hanging up and thought it reminded me of the bow shaped handle turned around the opposite direction. Then I reversed the image and found that the open door now on the left became near enough the shape of the shoulder of the entity with the long transparent head. The seated man with the large nose suddenly became near enough to the animal like head with a downward curved snout


Biomechanic Landscape II (work 319) and  a reversed Aaron Wassertrum together
d) Dark body
A dark space between the seated man's body and the bric-a-brac hung on the wall behind him vaguely resembles the positioning of the lower part of the right dark body in Giger's art, and then in Giger's art there's also a curved foot like limb sticking out of the front of the body of the snout faced humanoid and now I am looking at how it follows the form of the man's beard with the ankle joint on the foot being where the man's ear would be. The inverted triangular space beneath the foot becomes the dark space beneath the man's chin which the coat doesn't cover and then another dark limb in Giger's art going to the left, generally follows the right side of the coat that almost falls into shadow

Detail from Biomechanic Landscape II (work 319) and a reversed Aaron Wassertrum together

e) Comparing Giger's work 319 and  Hugo Steiner Prag's "Vice"
But it seemed that this only revealed a partial set of details and I became convinced that Giger had take something from another picture from the series, and then I came to previous picture in the series Vice. The transparent head of the left figure was developed from the left arch with the railings showing up as the ribbed machinery in the head, and the arch top of the entrance to the passage on the left becomes the shoulder of the entity before Giger decided to replace that with the shape of the open door from Aaron Wassertrum.

"Vice" by Hugo Steiner Prag
f)  The ceiling of "Vice" to the upper part of work 319

The two images side by side:

The ridge in the divide in the arched ceiling takes form in Giger's painting dividing the two heads. .

The support of the arched ceiling shows up as a tank from which the left figure's breathing pipe is connected to. .

The edge of this support catches the light and becomes in Giger's paintings a space dividing the gas tank and the body of the upper left biomechanoid. .

The right abstract figure probably would reflect the shadowy doorway on the right with the figure standing in there, the steps below perhaps turn into the ribbing in Giger's work, but this seems to be a very rough assumption, and perhaps Giger would have been only roughly following any concept. .

One would be asking more questions about the figure on the right with complicated shapes and head gear and left without answers.

Detail from Biomechanic Landscape II (work 319) and Hugo Steiner Prag's "Vice"
g)  The left stair case from "Vice" and details from Giger's work 319
The slope of the side of the left staircase with the window below becomes the jacket and arm of the smaller figure with the animal like face, the bottom of the side of the staircase becomes a phallus in Giger's work.

The window at the top of the staircase become the ribbing on the upper arm of the upper left figure. Giger perhaps used the shape of the archway for the dome of the head of the figure with the snout




Detail from Biomechanic Landscape II (work 319)  and Hugo Steiner Prag's "Vice

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