Artist Brendan Murphy has created a 22-foot, 3,000-pound sculpture named “The Boonji Spaceman,” which stands on a dock in the middle of the ocean at the Hodges Bay Resort in Antigua.
The sculpture is inspired by a Michael Jackson dance pose (This is it?) and represent a spaceman covered by words and mathematical equations.
The sculptural work of Brendan Murphy communicates a rare perspective on the modern human experience through explorations of form, color, language, and universal symbols. Thematically, Brendan Murphy explores the interplay of beauty, power and the need to understand the source of all the energies of life.
The inspirations of the work; formulas, equations, relationships; create a pictorial spectrum of human emotion and the unifying natures of shared humanity. Through the layering of these emblems, Brendan Murphy’s painted works boldly portray careful imagery and density of the human experience, exposing the deep natural beauty that surface in this fragile balance.
Since the spaceman’s arrival in March, the hotel says it has become a tourist attraction. Murphy believes the sculpture represents a willingness to take on anything. “Who better to embody embracing the unknown than a guy jumping out of a spaceship into space?” Murphy said.
When Christopher Harding, the co-owner of the Hodges Bay Resort, commissioned Murphy to create another version of his spaceman, Murphy said he knew it had to be big, literally. “We wanted to create something that you could see from space down on the island,” he said. Murphy said they hired a company to take photos of the sculpture from space that they plan to release soon.
If you look closely at Murphy’s creation, you’ll find words like “future,” “wish” and “vision” from top to bottom. “It really reflects what’s next, what are the possibilities,” Murphy said. “I tried to capture that in the words. A lot about dreams, imagination. The future has not yet been written.”
The Spaceman is part of a series that Murphy created (smaller versions and different poses and colors) and exhibited around the world.
Check out Brendan Murphy’s website
