Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
2025
8.5 × 11 in.
Watercolor on Paper
At the center is a boxer who looks like he has won at everything. He's physically powerful, smoking a cigar, wearing a massive gold chain, and surrounded by women. He's a killer in the ring, and now he gets to enjoy everything society tells us should come with being a winner.
The character makes me think about larger-than-life athletes and celebrities, including Wilt Chamberlain and the stories surrounding his fame, success, and relationships with women. There is this idea that once a man becomes successful enough, the normal rules disappear. Win enough, become powerful enough, make enough money, and suddenly the world—and everything in it—can become yours.
Winners get the world.
At least, that's what we're taught.
Money and power can distort the way we measure a successful life. We start believing that winning means having the most money, the most attention, the most people wanting us, the biggest house, the nicest things, or enough status that nobody can tell us no. Eventually, collecting experiences and people can start to feel like collecting trophies.
The boxer has everything that is supposed to prove he made it. But the painting asks whether any of it actually means that he won.
That's the contradiction behind The Winner. We spend so much of our lives trying to acquire things because we believe they'll make us feel complete. Society reinforces it because success is much easier to display than fulfillment. You can show somebody your money. You can show them your trophies. You can show them the people surrounding you. You can't hold up love and prove that you have it.
And I think that's something we sometimes don't understand until everything else disappears.
When the money is gone, when nobody cares how powerful you used to be, when your body isn't what it once was, and when the crowd stops cheering, you're left with the people who actually loved you and the people you actually loved.
The Winner is about spending your life trying to win the world, only to realize that the world was never the prize.
The prize was love.
2025
8.5 × 11 in.
Watercolor on Paper
At the center is a boxer who looks like he has won at everything. He's physically powerful, smoking a cigar, wearing a massive gold chain, and surrounded by women. He's a killer in the ring, and now he gets to enjoy everything society tells us should come with being a winner.
The character makes me think about larger-than-life athletes and celebrities, including Wilt Chamberlain and the stories surrounding his fame, success, and relationships with women. There is this idea that once a man becomes successful enough, the normal rules disappear. Win enough, become powerful enough, make enough money, and suddenly the world—and everything in it—can become yours.
Winners get the world.
At least, that's what we're taught.
Money and power can distort the way we measure a successful life. We start believing that winning means having the most money, the most attention, the most people wanting us, the biggest house, the nicest things, or enough status that nobody can tell us no. Eventually, collecting experiences and people can start to feel like collecting trophies.
The boxer has everything that is supposed to prove he made it. But the painting asks whether any of it actually means that he won.
That's the contradiction behind The Winner. We spend so much of our lives trying to acquire things because we believe they'll make us feel complete. Society reinforces it because success is much easier to display than fulfillment. You can show somebody your money. You can show them your trophies. You can show them the people surrounding you. You can't hold up love and prove that you have it.
And I think that's something we sometimes don't understand until everything else disappears.
When the money is gone, when nobody cares how powerful you used to be, when your body isn't what it once was, and when the crowd stops cheering, you're left with the people who actually loved you and the people you actually loved.
The Winner is about spending your life trying to win the world, only to realize that the world was never the prize.
The prize was love.