Aribtrary

Arbitrary is a mixed-media sculptural and print series interrogating systems of power, perception, and assumed identity. It centers around a wall-mounted wooden sail layered with translucent rice paper. Unlike a traditional sail, this one does not move—it is fixed, fragile, and inscribed with overlapping handwritten notes, equations, and diagrams, evoking the layered histories and imposed directives we are born into. The sculptural forms—geared masks, magnifying eyes, and tethered horns—echo surveillance, compliance, and restraint. Though they resemble tools, these objects are nonfunctional, designed not to serve but to subdue. The objects feel simultaneously sacred and mechanical, merging organic materials such as antler and bone with bronze, brass, and leather harnesses.


The works in Arbitrary explore tension between perception and identity, systems and individuals, and reality and design. Each object implies a role—watcher, protector, worker—but none are worn. The function is defined by the system, not the self. Lenses, domes, and reflective materials distort perspective, blurring the boundary between how we see and how we are seen. The use of materials like rice paper, bone, and antler against mechanical hardware suggests a constructed sense of value and authenticity. Ultimately, these structures do not fail—they were never built for the liberation of the individual. The sail does not propel. The tools do not serve. The masks do not breathe. They exist to hold shape, not offer freedom.


Arbitrary is my response to the silent systems that assign roles without asking permission—structures of status, surveillance, tradition, and identity. These works do not explain or resolve. They assert presence. They ask what it means to carry symbols we didn’t choose, and to move through mechanisms we didn’t build. They feel strange, sacred, and industrial—familiar enough to feel inherited, but foreign enough to make you question if they were ever meant for us. I’m not offering a solution. I’m offering form. Presence. Artifact.

Alongside the sculptural work, Arbitrary features a series of digital prints made on antique dictionary pages. Each silhouette—birds, bombs, insects, tools—is carefully selected to mirror or mock the definition beneath it. A raven printed over "custody." A bomb on "doxology." The tension between image and word plays with interpretation: are we defining these symbols, or are they defining us? The layering of language and image challenges viewers to read both literally and symbolically, to consider how meaning is manufactured.