After reading Pym by Mat Johnson I noticed there are a few reoccurring things. One that intrigued me was Garth’s obsession with Thomas Karvel’s oil painting. After hearing so much about these utopian landscape paintings I decided to do a little research on the real paintings. I found out that the artists name is Thomas Kinkade. His paintings are all very beautiful and surreal looking.

This picture especially caught my eye because of how peaceful it looks. Garth loved the scenery in the pictures and I believe it is because he views his paintings as a utopia.

The reason Garth comes on this journey is because he believes that one of Karvel’s paintings features Antarctica and is hopeful that he will find the artist. He says, “You laughed at me before, but let me tell you something: Thomas Karvel is down here, you know, in Antarctica. He’s down here, waiting all the bad shit in the world out. Just chilling, hibernating almost. This could be his hideout.” (Johnson, p.121) Garth is obsessed with the idea of possibly finding the artist of the paintings he loves so much, that he doesn’t even consider that the painting might not be of Antarctica. Even if the painting really is a landscape of Antarctica, it doesn’t mean Thomas Karvel will be there.

It was not stated in the book what exact painting Garth thought was a landscape of Antarctica. I looked through many of Thomas Kinkade’s paintings and found a few that I thought could represent Antarctica.

Lauren Shaughnessy