The Arch

The Arch:  a personal watercolor

We like to believe that what we build defines us.

But what if it only reveals what we are?

This piece is not just about a monument. It’s about the human condition, layered, contradictory, and not always comfortable to look at.

The sirens represent illusion, the way we constantly measure ourselves against others, chasing images that were never real to begin with. The sharks are there as a reminder that the real danger isn’t always external. As a species, we are capable of creating as much destruction as we are beauty.

The small red fish scatter through the composition like thoughts, unstable, diverse, impossible to fully control. That restless mental noise might be one of the most defining traits of being human.

Then there is nature. Quiet, persistent, unavoidable. The plants are not just decorative, they are a reminder that despite everything we build, we remain deeply dependent on something we do not control.

And at the center stands the arch. A tooth.

It came from a dream, but it stayed because of what it represents. A tooth carries both pain and power. It can hurt, it can break, but it can also bite, resist, dominate. It felt like the perfect symbol for human history, where strength and suffering are always intertwined. Maybe not so far from monuments like the Arc de Triomphe, which celebrate both victory and violence.

At the top, a cloud floats just out of reach. Freedom, maybe. Or the illusion of it. Something we can see, desire, and move toward, but never fully grasp.

Below, people walk. Small, almost insignificant figures moving across a soft, unstable ground where manta rays glide beneath them. They keep moving, like we all do, traveling, searching, without ever fully understanding what they are part of.

This work doesn’t give answers.

It exposes a tension.

Between control and chaos.

Between creation and destruction.

Between what we think we are…

and what we actually are.