Christopher Martin’s
I Saw the Fork in the Road and Went the Third Way (2025) is an ode to intuition, independence, and the courage to forge one’s own path. Executed in the artist’s signature black-and-white palette, the work features a slender vertical scroll pierced by a single black arrow, inscribed with the phrase:
“
I SAW THE FORK IN THE ROAD AND WENT THE THIRD WAY.”
The piece encapsulates Martin’s minimalist yet deeply contemplative approach — transforming language into sculpture and philosophy into form. The arrow, recurring throughout his recent works, symbolizes precision, choice, and consciousness. Here, it acts as both literal and metaphorical punctuation, emphasizing the radical notion of an alternative path beyond binary decision-making.
Visually, the composition is restrained and balanced. The elongated scroll draws the viewer’s gaze downward, mirroring the journey implied by the text. The bold typography, evenly spaced and rhythmically stacked, lends the phrase the cadence of a mantra or declaration. The subtle curvature of the paper and the shadow cast by the arrow introduce a sense of suspended motion — as though the thought itself has just been struck into being.
Conceptually, the work speaks to the essence of Martin’s philosophy: liberation from expectation. The “third way” represents the creative, intuitive choice — neither the safe nor the obvious, but the deeply personal. It is a rejection of dichotomy in favor of transcendence, a reminder that awareness often lies beyond convention or reason.
In I Saw the Fork in the Road and Went the Third Way, Martin merges humor, insight, and spiritual reflection with striking visual clarity. The result is a work that reads like a modern koan — an arrow of realization aimed straight at the heart of self-determination.
