Jin Shan: It Came From the Sky August 17, 2011

Suspended from the ceiling on a motorized wire, a seven-foot silicon policeman slowly descends, emerging from a cosmic nebula projected on the ceiling above. In this new work created as part of the Freeman Foundation Chinese Artist-in-Residence program at the Spencer Museum of Art, Shanghai-based artist Jin Shan playfully grafts the figure of the proverbial "cop" with religious iconography inspired by the Museum's collection of Christian art. As a provocation on systems of power and control, the cheesy, sci-fi title It Came from the Sky further speculates on how representations of authority are created, whether they are sacred or secular.