Created by
Gavin
Top Hat Always Wins by Gavin W, Sewekk in Montreal
Top Hat Always Wins
A bold, system-driven mixed-media collage built around the visual and symbolic language of Monopoly, this work explores power, chance, and the illusion of fairness within economic systems. Currency fragments, game board elements, and relief-embedded mechanical forms are layered into a structured grid that echoes both play and control.
At the center, the iconic top hat hovers as a quiet authority figure—an emblem of class, legacy, and the persistent advantage embedded within the rules of the game. Surrounding panels incorporate global banknotes, chance symbols, and coded references to movement, risk, and accumulation, suggesting that while the surface invites play, the underlying structure is far less neutral.
The piece operates as both a nostalgic reference and a critical reflection: a game we recognize immediately, reassembled to reveal the tensions between luck, strategy, and systemic bias.
With its strong geometry, vibrant color, and dimensional surface, the work functions equally well as a conceptual centerpiece and a striking visual anchor—particularly suited to social spaces, offices, or game rooms.
Availability: Sold
Medium: mixed media, acrylic paint
Collection: abstract, pop, fantasy
Size: 36in (W) X 36in (H)
Price: $4,800
Meet the Artist
Meet the Artist
Montreal, CanadaI’m a Montreal and New York-based visual artist working across painting, collage, and sculptural wall pieces. My practice moves between abstraction and figuration, often layering found imagery, drawn elements, and painted structure into surfaces that feel both constructed and alive.
I’ve been working professionally for over twenty years, with projects ranging from private commissions to public art installations. My approach is collaborative—I work closely with clients to develop pieces that respond to a space, a story, or a particular energy they want to live with.
Alongside larger works, I offer smaller commissions, including portrait drawings and custom paintings, as a way of keeping the work immediate and accessible. Whether the project is intimate or architectural, the goal is the same: to make something that holds attention over time.
I’m particularly interested in work that sits between image and object—where painting starts to take on a physical presence, and where materials carry their own history into the final piece.
