My childhood was a simple one-growing up in the Chicago suburbs playing sports with friends. I was born in 1996, the perfect time and place to come of age living in the wake of one of the most colossal sports icons of all- time in Michael Jordan. He is an athlete that transcended reality and his image persists as a pop culture deity to this very day (with good reason). Years later, now working as a professional painter obsessed with art history and classical techniques, I wanted to make a painting that reached back into my own nostalgia while simultaneously lifting the curtain on themes in our contemporary culture. The background behind MJ is my rendition of Francois Lemoyne's 1736 ceiling mural "The Apotheosis of Hercules" from the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles, basically equating Jordan as one our modern day mythical heroes soaring among the gods of Mt. Olympus. This work is a commentary on idolatry, pop culture, athletics, Baroque Art, and ultimately, The Figure.