In Top Gun: Bro Egos (3.5” Black), Arlo Sinclair reframes the testosterone-fueled bravado of 1980s cinema through the fragile materiality of a 3.5” floppy disk. Hand-painted with meticulous detail, the work parodies the cult blockbuster Top Gun, presenting it as “Disk 1 of 10” with sardonic taglines such as “The only coding you really need? Bro Code!” and “Feeding Big Boy Egos Instead of the Poor.”

The use of the floppy disk as canvas is central to the satire. Once a vessel of cutting-edge digital storage, the disk is now wholly obsolete—incapable of holding even a fraction of the film it supposedly contains. Sinclair exploits this irony, collapsing the hyper-masculine spectacle of aerial combat with the fragility of outdated media. The result is a humorous yet biting critique of cultural nostalgia, technological obsolescence, and the enduring mythologies of masculinity perpetuated by Hollywood.

The distressed label—creased, scuffed, and imperfect—further underscores Sinclair’s fascination with the material traces of memory. By elevating a discarded format into an artwork, he highlights the absurdity of permanence in a culture built on rapid obsolescence. At the same time, the work recalls Pop Art traditions of appropriation and parody, transforming mass-media ephemera into icons of critique.

Top Gun: Bro Egos encapsulates Sinclair’s ability to fuse humor and critical edge. By placing fragile, outdated technology in dialogue with enduring cultural myths, the piece exposes both the absurdity and resilience of the narratives that continue to shape popular imagination.