MARVELOUS ADVENTURES SERIES

This powerful and alarming image is the most iconic and often repeated scene depicting Kali. I always write something short that talks about my releases, but because the narrative of this image is a compelling story that has been retold countless times for centuries, I thought it might warrant a deeper dive.

The story goes roughly this way:

Durga and a team of goddesses were battling a demon named Raktabija who was rampaging and threatening to destroy the world. They used an assortment of weapons, all of which only compounded the problem and strengthened their enemy because when their weapons cut Raktabija’s skin, each drop of blood would transform into a duplicate of the demon upon touching the ground. Every successful attack resulted in hundreds of new fierce opponents until the battlefield was covered with an army of Raktabija clones. 

This angered Durga and the other goddesses, despite her even temper. Eventually, after much conflict and physical violence, they realized they were outmatched. Durga summoned Kali (In some versions she simply transforms into Kali), who arrived and quickly killed every one of the clones in an instant. She then decapitated Raktabija and in order to prevent the creation of new clones, she caught and drank every drop of blood before it could touch the ground. 

After defeating Raktabija, Kali was in a hateful, angry trance and continued to stomp around the world. Her rage proved more brutal and caused more damage than anything the demon had done. Nothing that Durga and the others tried could calm her, so they went to Shiva and told him that his wife was destroying the world. Shiva went to Kali and tried to calm her down, but his efforts were also useless. He could think of only one way to soothe her and that was to throw himself under her feet to be trampled to death. 

This act did disrupt her trance and calm her down and she returned to a more even state and the world eventually returned to a new harmony. Click here to read my personal interpretation of this story. 

This is the third of five posters in the series. All characters for the series are pulled from Hindu mythology (Durga, Hanuman, Rama, Garuda, Kali) and feature some of the oldest superheroes on Earth.

Hanuman in Hinduism represents perfect self control, strength, stamina and devotion. There are many other monkey heroes and trickster characters in mythologies throughout Asia and many of those stories are related to Hanuman.

The story depicted here is one of his most famous adventures. During a battle, his comrade Lakshmana was injured and the only remedy came from a specific medicinal plant which grew on a mountain in the Himalayas. Being the strongest and fastest in the group, Hanuman was charged with the task of traveling thousands of miles to this mountain to retrieve it.

When he arrived, he discovered that many different plants grew there and not knowing which was the right plant, he lifted the entire mountain and carried it all the way across India to the place where Lakshmana was dying.

I love this story. My wife and our team often say “Let’s pull off the impossible” when we take on big art projects and ambitious goals and I think of this story at those times.

This is the second of five posters in the series. It features Garuda, who is the courageous, loyal companion and mount to Vishnu in Hinduism. He symbolizes courage and strength and commitment.

Garuda is a hugely popular character throughout Asia, particularly the south east. His significance varies depending on the region. Much like Pegasus, who in Greek mythology refers to one specific winged horse but has come to refer to the whole race of magical beings, Garuda is the name of one specific winged bird in Hinduism. But, when the character crosses over into Buddhism, Garudas refer to a type of golden winged magical birds.

Many of the prints in the Marvelous Adventures series refer to specific Hindu stories. This piece does not. I’ve made Garuda into an American bald eagle and forced him to team up with his mortal enemies. It seems to me that a little bit less conflict and a little bit more cooperation in our culture is in order.

This is the first poster released in the Marvelous Adventures series. Durga seemed to be the most appropriate figure to kick off this series. The last several years have been marked by her persistent efforts and I imagine she will continue. To a large degree, she is the same archetype as Wonder Woman.

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TITLE: The Queen Justice
SIZE: 24 x 36 Inches
MEDIA: 5-Color Screen Print
EDITION: 50