Oil on canvas board
2023

I’ve always loved films. When we approached the 7th week of AAL’s ‘Responding to Images of the Body’ I knew I’d enjoy working on a painting using film as my reference.

It’s hard to say how I landed on Ridley Scott’s classic 1979 horror film Alien, or why in particular the iconic chest burster scene. But, I knew at the time it felt right.

In Chestburster, the crew of the Nostromo can be seen in a tonally-shifted recreation of the scene. The loose and dream-like painterly style is further made surreal by the modified and grinning expressions of the crewmates. standing above the supine Kane (John Hurt).

The restraining arms of the crew, previously meant to help Kane as they attempt to remove the alien parasite from his chest, can now be read as bizarrely erotic, with Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) looking on in interest and confusion respectively.