Smash of the Titans

This piece was designed specifically for a long-time friend/collector with some very interesting ideas. He had in mind something that involved has-been professional wrestlers and had periodically sent me images of the kind of "athletes" he'd like to see depicted over the course of many months.

I too have a fondness for a variety of "has-beens-types" (in my case I'm fascinated by A-list Gay pretty boys who are past their prime and not psychologically prepared for how the world now receives them). There's something about a person who's been at the top of their game (whatever it is) who is now almost embarrassingly pursuing that same previous glory that I find intriguing. I didn't want to present them in a scenario that they would usually be thought to inhabit (in a ring in front of their audience) and struggled with the concept for a long time before settling on this backstage grouping. The awkward fist-bump between the old tanned star and his gone-to-seed cohort was the central interaction but then I decided to populate the backdrop with other characters in different attitudes that might also occupy a dressing room/staging area. I'm extremely happy with the end result.

— Michael Kirwan

Smash of the Titans — 2011 — 10" x 10"