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Alien Art

A spaceship inspires a blinking, twinkling sculpture  A spaceship inspires a blinking, twinkling sculpture In the classic 1979 sci-fi film Alien, the crew of a commercial mining ship is awakened from hypersleep when they intercept a distress signal from a nearby planet. There, they encounter a parasite that attaches itself to a crew member's face […]

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A spaceship inspires a blinking, twinkling sculpture
 

A spaceship inspires a blinking, twinkling sculpture

In the classic 1979 sci-fi film Alien, the crew of a commercial mining ship is awakened from hypersleep when they intercept a distress signal from a nearby planet. There, they encounter a parasite that attaches itself to a crew member's face and plants a carnivorous creature inside him. The movie's tagline describes the rest: "In space, no one can hear you scream." But for artist Nathan Bennett, MFA '06, the film's real message is about the bleak future of human communication. For a show in New York City last summer, Bennett sculpted a life-size model of the ship's telecom console, to represent the dysfunction that he believes causes the crew's demise. "It struck me as a strange space," says the Manhattan-based artist. "Compared with the rest of the ship, it's antiquated and bare-boned. It creates this void that I think sums up the film."

Bennett's untitled sculpture, made of foamboard covered in LEDs and fluorescent bulbs, was featured in the Bronx Museum of the Arts' "Living & Dreaming" show from June to September. The exhibit was a showcase for the three dozen people who participated in the museum's Artist in the Marketplace program, a thirteen-week seminar that offers practical business advice. "It's an opportunity to have candid group discussions with art professionals while expanding your personal support group within the art community," says Bennett, whose work has appeared in a handful of exhibitions across the country.

While moonlighting as a freelance art handler for institutions such as the Whitney Museum of American Art and the MoMA, Bennett worked on the Alien piece for forty-five hours a week for eight months. Since much of his previous work deals with religious iconography, Bennett says the sculpture was something of an experiment—not only in terms of the subject matter and materials but also how viewers approach it. "When looking at one of my other pieces, people would question whether or not I was Christian," he says. "This one, it doesn't matter if I'm a diehard fan of the film. I actually don't care for sci-fi."

Lost in space: Nathan Bennett's untitled sculpture (above) was on display at the Bronx Museum of Arts last summer as part of its "Living & Dreaming" show.

— Allison Musante

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