Market Competition from the collection of TAG Gallery

Market Competition

3D-printed polymer, hand-finished with aerosol enamel spray paint, marble base

12 x 8 x 8 in (30.48 x 20.32 x 20.32 cm)

$1,000

Available

Market Competition is a sculptural allegory of desire engineered into conflict. A vertical tower of black, high-gloss hands climbs upward in a dense, grasping column, each gesture frozen at the edge of possession. At the summit hovers a single golden apple, an object of perfect luster and impossible promise. Its radiance reads as prize, prophecy, and provocation.

The apple invokes myth, echoing the golden fruit that sparked rivalry and judgment, a small catalyst capable of rewriting loyalties and igniting collapse. Here, that mythic trigger is re-cast as a market instrument: scarcity made holy, value made unquestionable. The hands reach not only for the apple, but for the status implied by being the one who holds it.

As the apple’s glow spills downward, it stains the black hands with a creeping golden hue. The “reward” is shown as contamination as much as triumph, suggesting that the pursuit of winning alters the pursuer. The sculpture frames competition as a system that converts collective striving into individual desperation, where participants are tempted into proximity, then corrupted by the very standard they chase.

Market Competition asks what the golden apple truly offers: a rightful reward, or a mechanism designed to keep bodies reaching, dividing, and sacrificing themselves for an object whose power lies in the conflict it produces.

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From TAG Gallery

Andrew Henning

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Rhonda Burton

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22.5 x 15 x 1.5 in (57.15 x 38.1 x 3.81 cm)

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24 x 24 x 1.5 in (60.96 x 60.96 x 3.81 cm)

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Ready, Set

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28 x 24 x 0 in (71.12 x 60.96 x 0.0 cm)

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Rhonda Burton

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Monoprint embellished with color pencil and collage

30 x 22 x 5 in (76.2 x 55.88 x 12.7 cm)

$1,500
Karen Fiorito

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11 x 15 x 0 in (27.94 x 38.1 x 0.0 cm)

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Karen Fiorito

Seeing 2

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10 x 8 x 0 in (25.4 x 20.32 x 0.0 cm)

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Bonnie Taylor

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View All Artworks

About the artist

Austin Lubetkin

b. 1996

Austin Lubetkin is a visual artist and software engineer whose work is shaped by his experiences of autism and synesthesia. He sees language, sound, and emotion as colors and patterns, and translates this sensory crossover into bold, graphic compositions. Using the visual language of advertising, social media, and luxury branding, his work explores how identity, beauty, and neurodivergence are packaged, judged, and sold. Lubetkin is a member of the international artists association. Lubetkin's work has been exhibited at galleries and museums across the United States including recent exhibits at the Sasse Museum and Awita Gallery and in international exhibitions at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art and Red Dot in Basel, Switzerland. He has also served as both curator and featured artist for an exhibition at the Orlando Science Center, focusing on the intersection of technology and perception. In May 2026, Lubetkin will be curating a group show exploring the experiences of artists with autism at TAG Gallery

Additional Details

Additional Artworks

Coit Tower

Fallen Leaves and Splatters

INNER PEACE

Ready, Set

Ghost of Turquoise Leaves

Psychic Link

Seeing 2

Slipping the Surly Bonds

About the artist

Austin Lubetkin