Skywalker Perseus

In collaboration with Acme Archives, I was given the opportunity to illustrate a piece of “fan art” depicting anything within the Star Wars universe. I personally love mythology and Star Wars is certainly a modern myth perfectly recounting the Hero’s Journey. One of my favorite scenes in “The Empire Strikes Back” is when Luke Skywalker goes and visits Yoda on the planet Dagobah and receives advanced Jedi training in the swampy obstacle-course-underbelly-metaphor-of-his-mind. In this mystical, nightmarish and deeply pyschological scene, Luke confronts his greatest fear and nemesis Darth Vader and promptly decapitates him – only to reveal that under the mask is actually Luke’s head and face. This revealtion paralleled to me the myth of Perseus and Medusa and the famous bronze sculpture made by Benvenuto Cellini where Medusa’s face is actually Perseus’s as well. This is all very symbolic and I could probably write a thesis paper about it, but instead will say, also in the painting surrounding Luke’s iconic pose are depictions of his allies, mentors, tests and trials all of which aided him in confronting his fears and bringing back new found strength, focus and faith in The Force. May we all find the courage within to live out our own version of this mythic undertaking.

2016 mixed media on paper.