The Hero's Journey
Oil on Canvas, 2024
96" x 96" (244cm x 244cm)
This painting is a spiraling chronological timeline of heroes throughout the history of Western Civilization, beginning with Moses, and ending with Neo from the Matrix. The painting depicts roughly 115 different heroic figures, taken from Biblical stories, Greek mythology, medieval fairy tales, modern superheroes, and more. Neo felt like an appropriate figure to end the timeline - the last great hero of the 20th century - as we head into an uneasy and uncertain digital and robotic future. I wanted to include the 3 most iconic video game heros of the 20th century. I polled a number of people, and 6 names were in contention: Mario, Sonic, Link, Lara Croft, Mega-Man, and Pac-Man. I chose Mario, Link and Lara Croft. I have a number of DC and Marvel characters in the painting. I wanted a female heroine for each Comic Book Universe. Wonder Woman was the obvious choice for DC, but choosing the most iconic female Marvel character was difficult. I chose Storm. Some characters in this painting were never immortalized in toy form, so I combined pieces of other toys to creat them (Sam Steele and The Count of Monte Cristo, for example). Mulan's dragon Mushu appears in the portal with St. Nicholas, This is where Mulan would have been placed in the timeline if she had been included. so instead I included mushu, because St. George the Dragon Slayer resides in the very next portal, riding on horseback, ready to defeat the neighbouring dragon. Coincidentally, Popeye the Sailor Man and Super Mario were placed next to each other in the composition. Initially Nintendo wanted the rights to own Popeye, but they couldnt attain them, so instead they created Super Mario. The central portal of the painting depicts the Ten Commandments. There is minor controversy over the proper translation of the original Ten Commandments (Thou Shalt Not Murder vs. Thou Shalt Not Kill, for example), but I ultimately just chose to use the exact text from the plaque of the Commandments that hung in my family's home as a child. This is one of the most labor-intensive paintings that I've made, taking more than 3000 hours spread out over two years. Over the next couple of years, I will be releasing 25 small paintings called 'The Rejected Hero Series'. Each painting will depict one of the 25 heroes that almost made it into 'The Hero's Journey', but were ultimately edited out.
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1. Moses (1310 bc), 2. Samson (1050 bc), 3. David (1000 bc), 4. Perseus (800 bc), 5. Odysseus (700 bc), 6. Achilles (700 bc), 7. Hercules (500 bc), 8. Socrates (399 bc), 9. Alexander the Great (340bc), 10. Michael the Archangel (300bc), 11. Thor (100bc), 12. Spartacus (71 bc), 13. Cleopatra (30 bc), 14. Jesus (0), 15. St. Nicholas w/Mushu (300), 16. St. George (500), 17. Beowulf (7th century), 18. King Arthur (9th century), 19. Robin Hood (1300), 20. William Wallace (1305), 21. Prince Phillip (1340), 22. Joan of Arc (1431), 23. Pocahontas (1599), 24. Hamlet (1602), 25. Galileo (1633), 26. Isaac Newton (1687), 27. Aladdin (1704), 28. Sinbad (1704), 29. Jack & the Giant (1734), 30. Belle (1756), 31. Ivanhoe (1819), 32. Quasimodo (1831), 33. Charles Darwin (1831), 34. Davey Crockett (1836), 35. Ariel (1837), 36. Aramis (1844), 37. Count of Monte Cristo (1844), 38. Geronimo (1869), 39. John Henry (1870), 40. Sam Steele (1873), 41. Pinocchio (1881), 42. Wyatt Earp (1881), 43. Jim Hawkins (1883), 44. Sherlock Holmes (1887), 45. Mowgli (1894), 46. Van Helsing (1897), 47. Dorothy Gale (1900), 48. Peter Pan (1902), 49. Paul Bunyan (1906), 50. Tarzan (1912), 51. John Carter (1912), 52. Einstein (1916), 53. Zorro (1919), 54. Hercule Poirot (1920), 55. Tintin (1929), 56. Popeye (1929), 57. Buck Rogers (1929), 58. Dick Tracy (1931), 59. The Shadow (1931), 60. Conan (1932), 61. Flash Gordon (1934), 62. Mary Poppins (1934), 63. The phantom (1936), 64. Superman (1938), 65. Batman (1939), 66. The Flash (1939), 67. Captain America (1941), 68. Aquaman (1941), 69. Wonder Woman (1941), 70. Rick Blaine (1943), 71. Frodo (1948), 72. Lone Ranger (1949), 73. Lucy and Aslan (1950), 74. Astro Boy (1952), 75. James Bond (1953), 76. The Hulk (1962), 77. Spider-Man (1962), 78. Iron Man (1963), 79. Dr. Who (1963), 80. Ali (1964), 81. Paul Atreides (1965), 82. Kirk (1966), 83. Ultraman (1966), 84. Wolverine (1974), 85. Quint (1974), 86. Storm (1975), 87. Rocky (1976), 88. Hulk Hogan (1977), 89. Luke Skywalker (1977), 90. Adama (1978), 91. Ripley (1979), 92. Indy (1981), 93. Mario (1982), 94. He-Man (1983), 95. Optimus (1984), 96. Leo (1984), 97. Venkman (1984), 98. Goku (1984), 99. Marty (1985), 100. Link (1985), 101. Robocop (1987), 102. Picard (1987), 103. Alan Grant (1989), 104. T-800 & John (1991), 105. MJ (1992), 106. Homer Simpson (1992), 107. Woody (1994), 108. John Snow (1996), 109. Lara Croft(1996), 110. Harry Potter (1997), 111. Agent J (1997), 112. Neo (1999)