This is an original, not a print.
FREE SHIPPING
Shipping takes 3–4 Weeks
This ships from Round Lake Beach, Illinois. A suburb outside of Chicago.
I use UPS and sometimes US Post.
This painting is titled Odysseus. It’s an original oil on stretched canvas, 30x40 inches, painted in 2025. I was thinking about Homer’s Odyssey when I made it—the famous episode where Odysseus proves himself by stringing his bow and shooting it through a line of axe heads. I reimagined that moment here, focusing on the power and tension in the figure’s body as he draws the bow.
I used a bearded, silver-haired man as my model, emphasizing his lived strength and endurance—qualities that echo Odysseus himself. The background pattern borrows from Greek motifs, reinforcing the classical connection, while the paint handling remains expressive and contemporary.
This piece also speaks to where we are today. Queer visibility and gay art are under attack in many places, but the ancient world shows us that depictions of the human body—particularly the male body—have always been part of cultural storytelling. To make and collect art like this is to insist on that continuity. It’s a way of saying that our images, our bodies, and our stories belong here.
For me as an artist and teacher, Odysseus ties together the classics I teach in my humanities courses with my lifelong practice of painting men. It’s about strength, myth, and endurance, but also about the present fight for representation and respect.
Details:
Artist: Kenney Mencher
Title: Odysseus
Medium: Oil on stretched canvas
Size: 30x40 inches
Year: 2025
Frame: Unframed, gallery-wrapped edges
Condition: Excellent, original artwork
Shipping: FREE, 3–4 weeks, UPS or US Post from Round Lake Beach, IL
This is an original, not a print.
FREE SHIPPING
Shipping takes 3–4 Weeks
This ships from Round Lake Beach, Illinois. A suburb outside of Chicago.
I use UPS and sometimes US Post.
This painting is titled Odysseus. It’s an original oil on stretched canvas, 30x40 inches, painted in 2025. I was thinking about Homer’s Odyssey when I made it—the famous episode where Odysseus proves himself by stringing his bow and shooting it through a line of axe heads. I reimagined that moment here, focusing on the power and tension in the figure’s body as he draws the bow.
I used a bearded, silver-haired man as my model, emphasizing his lived strength and endurance—qualities that echo Odysseus himself. The background pattern borrows from Greek motifs, reinforcing the classical connection, while the paint handling remains expressive and contemporary.
This piece also speaks to where we are today. Queer visibility and gay art are under attack in many places, but the ancient world shows us that depictions of the human body—particularly the male body—have always been part of cultural storytelling. To make and collect art like this is to insist on that continuity. It’s a way of saying that our images, our bodies, and our stories belong here.
For me as an artist and teacher, Odysseus ties together the classics I teach in my humanities courses with my lifelong practice of painting men. It’s about strength, myth, and endurance, but also about the present fight for representation and respect.
Details:
Artist: Kenney Mencher
Title: Odysseus
Medium: Oil on stretched canvas
Size: 30x40 inches
Year: 2025
Frame: Unframed, gallery-wrapped edges
Condition: Excellent, original artwork
Shipping: FREE, 3–4 weeks, UPS or US Post from Round Lake Beach, IL
