Pennsylvania Montclair State University, B.A.Montclair State University, M.A.University of Tennessee, PhD Daniel Lai is a self-taught artist of Chinese descent from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He was granted US citizenship through extraordinary ability and innovation in the field of fine art and arts management in 2014. Lai’s narrative sculptures tell stories of lived moments. From food to social issues, inspirations abound. As an immigrant who has studied linguistics, art history, and criminology, his art uses metaphor to respond to injustices and to explore the mundane, such as bad governance and the penny he found in a parking lot. Transcending the limitation of words, the expression in Lai’s three-dimensional work encompasses humor, intellect, and emotion. I often write my experiences in a journal but find it inadequate to convey how I truly feel. As a result, I translate these paragraphs to a visual form that is three dimensional, simplistic, and often relatable to many. I call these sculptures ‘three dimensional hieroglyphs of my experiences.’ Often, the true meaning of text and words are just beneath that thin layer of their lexical meaning. In other words, we live in a metaphorical world. The sculptural representation of my experience transcends the boundary of words.