In Kodak: Too Big to Fail, Arlo Sinclair revisits his signature exploration of technological obsolescence and corporate missteps, this time through the lens of Kodak’s infamous rejection of digital photography. The painting presents a floppy disk labeled as “Confidential Material” from the company’s R&D Department, bearing the project title “Digital Camera Project, Schematics & Patent (1975).” Stamped across the surface in glaring red is the word REJECTED—a haunting reminder of one of the most consequential missed opportunities in modern technology.

Executed with photo-realistic precision, Sinclair transforms the fragile medium of the floppy disk into an enduring painted artifact. Its creased label, aging adhesive, and cautionary warning—“Do Not Develop / May Render Company Obsolete”—resonate with tragic irony. Once heralded as a titan of innovation, Kodak became synonymous with photography itself, yet its inability to embrace the digital shift led to spectacular decline. Sinclair reframes this moment of corporate hubris as both satire and elegy, drawing attention to the fragile intersection of invention, capital, and shortsighted decision-making.

The work belongs to Sinclair’s broader practice of reimagining obsolete technologies as cultural fossils, parodying their historical roles while preserving them as icons of collective memory. By isolating the floppy disk against a stark white backdrop, the artist underscores the absurdity of permanence in a world defined by rapid obsolescence.

Kodak: Too Big to Fail functions simultaneously as a critique of late-capitalist risk aversion, a nostalgic nod to discarded tech, and a visual parable about the dangers of rejecting progress. In Sinclair’s hands, a once-ordinary storage medium becomes a sharp and poignant commentary on innovation lost and opportunities squandered.