and
a) Francis Bacon got there first
Back
in the 1940s, the famous British artist
Francis Bacon had created the paintings Head 1 and 2 (1947-1948) that
showed a strange toothy mouth emerging from a humanoid head and in
painting number 2 definitely looks as if the teeth have a definite small
skull of it's own. He was someone whose work that inspired Ridley
Scott, HR Giger,
and David Lynch, and Giger own contributions to the Chestburster's
designs echoed the idea of these paintings (especially the Head one).
Cronenberg appreciated the works of Bacon and would find comparisons
being made between their work to be legitimate.See: Alien vs David Lynch's Eraserhead
See: Alien vs Cronenberg's Shivers
 | |
| Detail from Francis Bacon's Head 2 |
b) Giger recalled the painting
Giger admitted that Francis Bacon's work gave him the inspiration for how the chestburster would come tearing out of the man's flesh with its gaping mouth, grasping and with and explosion of teeth and here we come back to Francis Bacon's Head 1 and 2
 |
| Head 2 by Francis Bacon from 1947-48 |
 |
| Head 1 by Francis Bacon (1947-1948) |
 |
| Francis Bacon (28 October 1909 – 28 April 1992) |
Source Quotes
- "I was blown away by Bacon,” says Lynch, who visited the British painter’s 1968 show at Marlborough-Gerson Gallery on a trip to New York with fellow PAFA students. (http://www.artnews.com/2014/09/10/david-lynchs-dark-days/)
- DAVID LYNCH: Ah, well, Francis Bacon is one of my giant inspirations. I just love him to pieces. (http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/david-lynch#page2)
- HR Giger “It was Francis Bacon’s work that gave me the inspiration. Of how this thing would come tearing out of the man’s flesh with its gaping mouth, grasping and with an explosion of teeth … it’s pure Bacon.” (http://www.latimes.com/)
- MARTIN SCORSESE“A vision that is genuinely original ... Cronenberg’s best movies still have the capacity to cause a Jungian culture shock. They’re like Buñuel, or Francis Bacon: wit and trauma, savagery and pity.” (Dossier 21: David Cronenberg” BFI)
- Beaux Arts Magazine: On cite volontiers le peinture de Bacon à
votre sujet; de nombreux artistes contemporains se réclament de votre
univers et vos problématiques (Le corps, la mutation, l'organique, la
technologie, le prolifération des images, le virtuel... ) recoupent
largement celle de l'art d'aujord'hui. Que pensez-vous de ces anologies?
Translation: One gladly cites the paintings of Bacon to your work; many contemporary artists claim to your world and your problems (body, mutation, organic, technology, the proliferation of images, virtual ...) largely coincide with that of the art of today. What do you think of these anologies?
David Cronenberg: Elles me semblent parfaitement légitimes. J’adore Bacon en effet et cela me semblerait tout à fait étrange, voire impossible d’être seul dans mon temps à aborder ces sujets. L’artiste possède selon moi des antennes; il a cette capacité de capter ces choses intangibles qui sont dans l’esprit du temps. Le but n’est pas d’être original au point que plus personne ne puisse vous appréhender. Tout le monde peut inventer un langage incompréhensible, mais enjeu de l’art est précisément de communiquer au point de frapper l’entendement
Translation: They seem perfectly legitimate. I love Bacon indeed and this would seem to me quite strange, if not impossible to be alone in my time to address these issues. The artist has in my opinion the antennas; He has this ability to capture those intangible things that are in the spirit of the time. The goal is not to be original to the point that nobody can understand you. Anyone can invent an incomprehensible language, but issue of art is precisely to communicate to hit the understanding (Beaux Arts magazine 198, November 2000)
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