It was quite a surprise to me when I saw a 1.5 Metre Metal Predator Statue with a very large axe at the entrance to a trendy night club that I hadn't been to in a while.

When I entered the club there was several more of these Sci-fi sculptures placed prominently throughout the building. I was definitely intrigued by this as the only other place I had seen these Scrap Metal Statues was when I had visited some shops in Thailand.

I thought that these menacing characters were surely just copies of the Metal Art I had seen in Thailand. Upon inspecting one of the statues more closely, I could see that with the attention to detail and superb craftsmanship, this could not be a copy.

As I looked around the club I noticed that many people were grouped around the Sci-fi sculptures. People were discussing the number of different pieces that it must have taken to build them. Others were whispering that they had heard that the statues were welded together using scrap metal that came from things like cars, washers and TV's. One woman was commenting on how smooth to the touch the Predator sculpture was.

I thought this was merely a coincidence that this savvy business owner had traveled to Thailand to include these Alien and Predator statues in his d'cor. As I continued my travels I soon found that this must not have been so.

While at my next destination I found an occasion to take a trip to the local museum. Once again I was amazed to see a collection of Robot models and Scrap Metal Statues. I stood there with my mouth agape as this collection included Star Wars, Terminator and Spawn figures as well as robots.

I knew this Metal Art was authentic as I read the pamphlet provided by the museum. It explained that the Scrap Metal Statues had been created by artists in Thailand who expertly welded up to 2000 different pieces together on the larger models. The literature went on to explain that all the sculptures are not painted but polished to perfection to remove any rough edges.

Surely the curator of this museum, that was quite a distance from the night club I had visited, had not also traveled halfway around the world to acquire this collection of Junk Metal statues? How did he even know of these alien beauties? There must be a growing trend I had yet to hear of and a place with easy access to purchase these Scrap Metal Statues.

Now being truly curious, I started to do some research to find out just how prevalent this Metal Art was becoming.

It seems that Junk Metal statues are being adopted in businesses all over the world. Aliens and Predators are guarding entrances to nightclubs. These larger models are perfect for outside use as they are coated with a strong lacquer to protect them from weathering and the balance of the freestanding models is checked vigorously.

The Star Wars smaller models, as well as others, are showing up in large numbers on table tops at the more trendy restaurants and bars.

Museums globally are clamoring to get their fair share of Sci-fi sculptures to proudly put on display.

Art connoisseurs are adding Junk Metal statues to their personal collections. These collections consist of Robocop models to Star Trek collectibles and everything in between.

Families are joining the alien invasion with their Metal Art collections containing everything from roses to R2-D2. After all, what child wouldn't want to have a Robot model?

An Alien invasion truly has begun. The aliens I speak of are Metal Art Sculptures. The large models can take up to 30 days and 12 different artists to complete and can be both intimidating and beautiful at the same time. The Scrap Metal Statues are also being built in smaller models which can be produced in bulk.

So finding Alien, Predator and R2-D2 in all the places I did was not a coincidence, it's an actual Alien invasion. If you would like to join in the collection of Metal Art, you no longer need to travel to far away places. Just be careful you don't get abducted.