LIFE IS A GAME

Acrylic on vintage pinball machine.

20.25x42x2.50"

My latest painting became an unexpected adventure. I bought a 1974 Williams pinball machine with the intention of restoring it, then transforming it into a sculptural painting. The idea was for the machine to remain fully operational—a work of art that could not only be observed, but played.

After countless YouTube videos and many generous hours under the mentorship of a friend, I came to an unavoidable conclusion: restoring the machine wasn't realistic. Instead, I decided to dismantle it and use only the playfield as my canvas.

As I carefully removed the wires, relays, fuses, and solenoids, something unexpected happened. The machine stopped being a machine and became a metaphor for life.

Decades ago, while studying Fine Arts at university, I took a course in French philosophy. It introduced me to thinkers like Descartes and Rousseau, both of whom argued passionately that human beings possess free will. Descartes believed that our capacity to choose is one of the defining qualities that elevates us.

I've always struggled with that idea.

It assumes that life unfolds in a way that allows us to choose freely. But what about chaos? What about chance? What about the unexpected events that redirect us before we've even had the opportunity to decide?

A pinball machine feels like a better metaphor for life.

We launch the ball with intention, but once it's in motion, it collides with bumpers, ricochets off obstacles, and is constantly redirected by forces beyond our control. We still make decisions—we nudge the machine, flip the paddles, and react—but we never have complete control over where the ball will go.

Perhaps free will isn't absolute. Perhaps it's the ability to respond to the unexpected.

When I look back on my own life, I see countless moments where opportunity appeared out of nowhere. Sometimes I recognized it, sometimes I didn't. More often than not, I jumped in without checking the depth first.

That willingness to embrace uncertainty has taken me down paths I never could have planned. Some led to failure. Others changed my life completely.

Maybe life isn't about controlling the game.

Maybe it's about how we play it.