Hero of a Thousand Faces | Greg Latch | Original Art

Original mixed media on wood by Greg Latch · Painter and mixed media artist · Available at Marcolina’s Fine Arts Gallery, Tampa, Florida · Ships worldwide

This is a nearly seven foot tall painting that you read from the bottom up. At the bottom is a pale pink figure, cropped at the shoulders, built big and solid, with a green snake coiling around from the right and its head resting low by a hand with red painted nails. A small woman stretches out along the snake’s body, and a tiny striped figure stands on the torso holding a spear. In the lower left a green hat or shell curves into the frame, and red lines run across a wooden floor at the bottom right.

Above all that, the painting erupts. The upper two thirds is a wall of dripping, streaming color, red, yellow, green, blue, and pink, packed with faces, eyes, a skull, a snail spiral, a green dragon, a red haired head at the upper right, and small sculpted shapes that stand off the wood in relief. It looks like every story the painting could tell is going off at once, and the heavy figure below is the one thing holding still.

At its heart the painting is about where we put our attention and time, and which heroes we choose to carry. Hercules is the classic strongman, and the second half of the title says there are a thousand faces of the same story. Here the hero is not clean or polished. He is huge, quiet, and surrounded by noise, and the faces above him look like the voices, beliefs, and stories he has to carry. Greg spent fifteen years on it.

Collector’s Note

At 83 by 39 inches, Hercules the Pinhead / Hero of a Thousand Faces is one of the largest works in Greg’s collection and the longest in the making. It is a collector’s piece for a tall wall with room to breathe, such as a gallery space, a lobby, a high ceilinged living room, or a private collection. It is painted on wood, with raised and layered areas that a photograph does not capture, so we strongly recommend a virtual viewing or a private visit in Tampa. We handle the packing and insured shipping for a piece this size.

Acquisition

Available through Marcolina’s Fine Arts Gallery with worldwide shipping, full insurance, and professional art packaging. Payment plans available. Private viewings by appointment in Tampa, Florida. Virtual viewings available for collectors anywhere in the world. Payment plans are arranged directly with Marcolina, and every inquiry is answered personally within 24 hours. Each original comes with a Certificate of Authenticity. Contact us to inquire. New to collecting? Read our collector guide →

A standard shipping rate is charged at checkout. Once your work is packed, we calculate the actual shipping cost for its size and destination. If there is a difference, we will follow up to either invoice the additional amount or refund the difference, whichever applies.

About the Artist

Greg Latch was born in Mississippi and studied acting and fine art at the University of Mississippi. He later worked as a portrait artist in Jackson Square in New Orleans, and in Tampa he spent years as a nurse in the city’s jails and a psychiatric hospital. He did not come to painting through galleries or art school. He came to it by watching people, and it shows.

For thirteen years he painted at Artist Unlimited alongside artists with master’s degrees from around the world, learned from master painter Ray Paul, and taught drawing with live models. He builds his surfaces with oils, markers, and a range of knives, layering until the canvas turns almost sculptural, and he works from spontaneous drawings and mismatched imagery.

His work sits between portraiture and abstraction, and he says himself that it is not really about the image. He was featured in the Persona exhibition at Marcolina’s Fine Arts Gallery alongside Blake Emory, Guillo Pérez 3, and Mark Rendini. He lives and works in Tampa, Florida.

View more work by Greg Latch →

Read Greg’s full story →

Meet all of our artists →