Bound
from New Morality
11.5" x 9.5"
acrylic  on mounted denim
2019
Private Collection, Houston, Texas
Exhibitions
Houston, Texas, New Morality, September 21-22, 2019
 
Bound distills moral tension into a single gesture: a pair of hands tied with rope, rendered with stark simplicity. The composition is quiet, but the symbolism is not. Bound hands evoke captivity, submission, sacrifice, and ritualized suffering. In religious iconography, they appear in martyrdom, penance, and divine obedience. In secular contexts, they signal coercion, punishment, or loss of agency.


Mounted on denim, the work resists sanctity. The frayed edges and tactile surface suggest wear, labor, and cultural residue. Denim becomes a secular canvas for sacred discomfort. The rope is not decorative—it’s declarative. It marks the body as subject to a system, whether spiritual, political, or psychological.


In the context of New Morality, Bound reads as a study in ethical restraint. What does it mean to surrender? To be held accountable? To be bound by belief, law, or love? The image does not answer. A compact canvas of symbolic tension, where morality is not just a code, but a condition.