Brooklyn Branch (2024) presents two trash bins together in front of a wall with two iron bar windows that frame the two bins together and draw the viewer towards them. From the bin on the right, there seems to be a tree branch coming out, with some surviving cherry blossoms still clinging onto the dead branch. It contrasts with the artificial waste that we throw out as it is organic compared to the mass-produced items we often throw away.
We could interpret the tree branch as a symbol of life and growth. However, it has been disposed of with inorganic trash (plastics and other materials). However, it refuses and fights against being simply reduced to trash as it still hangs onto its life as the cherry blossoms have not died yet. This gives the painting a very solemn mood, as life is presented against human waste, which is worthless and decomposing. This thus puts towards a state of living and decay, giving the painting solitude, yet not in a meditative or calm way but rather a slight anxiety.
Iron bars behind the two bins are reinforcing this stillness as they seem to imply that the branch has no chance of escape from this decay. Thus giving the natural object a disposable nature which shows that even living objects are still subject to humanity’s decision of disposal. Ironically, however, the discarded branch does have its own presence above this disposal as it sits atop of the bin and cannot be compressed into it. It thus refuses to be fully consumed by humanity and resists against us.