Scroll 5: Myth vs the Common Cold

The left side of this scroll is full of lofty ambitions. I wanted it to be an extension of my third graduate paper, which is all about journeys. I read Jack Kerouac and lots of myths through historian Joseph Campbell, and thought it would be interesting to show parallel examples of the "hero's quest" rambling from one side of the paper to the end. I started by copying some sections of an amazing Japanese travelogue from the 1700s that I found at the Boston Public Library. Then I planned to add Kerouac's On the Road, various mythical elements and images, and even moments from one of my favorite cartoons, Adventure Time with Finn and Jake.

Then I wore myself down and ended up with bronchitis, and my days were filled with coughing and not enough sleeping and paperwork and school. I became overwhelmed, slowed down on the "road of trials" and maybe even sucked up into the "belly of the whale" (these are all stages in Campbell's 'Hero's Journey'-- where the hero can get stuck for a long time). For this reason, the right side of the composition is covered with cough drop wrappers and elementary school desks and chairs, creeping over the picture like mold. I wanted to show the idealism slowly giving way to more mundane reality. Although, I sort of like that side better-- maybe reality can be pretty epic and beautiful just the way it is.

Finally, it needed a strong image to pull it together, so I painted a life-sized sprawling Kitty, my cat. She's been a constant through everything so far.  Her gaze could mean many things: maybe "i feel your pain," or perhaps, "dude, stop working on that thing and pet me."