Description
‘Immortal’ by Jake Mensinger
Artist: Jake Mensinger
Title: ‘Immortal’
Medium: Oil on wood panel
Dimensions: 48″ x 36″
Framing: Unframed
Year of Creation: 2019
About the Artwork:
Immortal presents a hero emerging from the wreckage, triumphant and larger than life. Angels flank him with empty but worried faces. Smoke rises from the ruins behind him, but he doesn’t look back—he’s too busy tearing off his shirt, radiating confidence, ready to take on whatever comes next.
The painting looks like something pulled from the old masters, then dunked in a vat of acid. The colors glow, unsettling and surreal—Hulk himself stands bathed in pure, primary colors, a beacon in the chaos. But that purity is a joke. He is knee-deep in rubble, a monument to himself, while the world around him crumbles.
Hogan was my childhood hero. Like so many icons, he stood for goodness, for strength, for the “right” way of life. But heroes, real or imagined, don’t always live up to their own legend. Immortal plays with the absurdity of blind faith—the way people cling to larger-than-life figures, believing in them even when the cracks are obvious. Is he really here to save us, or is this all just part of the show?
Last year, this painting made it about four feet away from the man himself. I held this painting for several hours at a signing event held at a grocery store to promote Hogan’s new beer. Unfortunately, he was swept away to the next event before I could show this to him in person. – Jake Mensinger
About the Artist:
(Artist Bio)
Jake Mensinger is an oil painter and muralist living and working in Canton, Ohio. He received a BFA in illustration from Columbus College of Art and Design in 2012. Mensinger explores life’s dark, uncomfortable, and sometimes humorous side using surreal scenes, religious iconography, pop culture, and science fiction elements. When not at the easel, Mensinger can be found enjoying coffee, petting cats, and not writing long bios about himself.