JAWS: All Bites Reserved
Or pay 3 times Jaws – All Bites Reserved brings together everything I love about Arlo Sinclair’s work: the nostalgia for 1980s technological objects, an impressive realism in the painting, and that dark humor that gradually emerges when observing every detail.
Technical information
Year: 2024
Technique: sculpture in resin and aluminum, custom-made and hand-painted by the artist
Dimensions: 1.5 × 52 × 50 cm
Edition: 5 copies
Signature: work signed and numbered by the artist
Presentation: wall artwork that can also be installed
Fastening system: integrated fixing on the back
State: nine
Certificate: Certificate of authenticity
Provenance: Directly from the artist, during our exhibition at the District 13 exhibition in Paris in January 2026
For this work, Arlo Sinclair transforms an old floppy disk into a monumental object inspired by Jaws, the famous film by Steven Spielberg. The scale change is immediately surprising: an object that was once banal, something that many of us have used, becomes a true wall sculpture.
The piece was custom-machined from resin and aluminum, then fully hand-painted. The work is so precise that one can still see the appearance of a real old floppy disk, with its labels, inscriptions, signs of wear, and the small imperfections that give the impression that it has stood the test of time.
Arlo didn’t just take over the film’s poster. He imagined an entire fake universe around that diskette, as if it were an old game or a software dedicated to Jaws. One can read «Disk 1 of 42», a deliberately absurd detail that evokes the endless installations of the time, when some programs were distributed on a multitude of diskettes.
As we approach, we also discover this mention:
« Copyright © 1987 Nature’s Revenge for Over Fishing Inc. All rights reserved »
Arlo here twists the phrase «All rights reserved» into «All bites reserved». This play on words, almost hidden at the bottom of the work, perfectly sums up its humor. One must take the time to look at the piece to discover all the references and understand how far the artist has taken his idea.
The work belongs to a limited edition of only five copies. Yet, each piece has a genuine uniqueness, as the finishes are handmade. The traces of wear, the nuances of the paint and especially the bloodstain vary from one copy to the next. Therefore, there are no two perfectly identical discs.
What I love about this work is the dialogue between several memories: the first floppy disks, the imagination of the 1980s, and a film that has become a true icon of popular culture. Arlo brings these references together with great intelligence, without ever losing his humor.
The sculpture can be hung on the wall thanks to the mounting system placed on the back, but it can also be placed flat on the floor. Its large size gives it a very strong presence, while its low depth perfectly maintains the appearance of a floppy disk.
For me, this work represents everything that makes Arlo Sinclair’s work unique: an immediately readable idea, remarkable craftsmanship, a multitude of details, and a humor that one does not find anywhere else. One initially smiles at the diversion, then one approaches to observe the painting and realizes how meticulously the piece has been crafted.
