“American Dream #8 – Great Location And Value”
acrylic latex, photocopies on canvas
36” x 24”
Early 2000s (estimated)
The Bentley-Smith Collection

 

Today concludes this retrospective of my work. I call the last month of postings “Jon Christopher – The First Ten Years of Painting”. Thank you for strolling through these pieces with me! Now here’s today’s painting…

The traveling preacher man is sharing his wares while standing in the street.

Above the preacher man is a jumble of apartment pieces, all disjointed. This is how I saw Long Beach sometimes while driving through, depending on the neighborhood. But inside this jumble is the one… the one with great location and value. Is this where the traveling preacher is headed?

At the top of the painting is several groups of people, some locked arm in arm. What are they doing? Why do they appear to be marching? Are they with the preacher man? Is this their neighborhood? Does the pink color, the red men and the blue men, mean anything?

It all has meaning on various layers but I’ll leave you to guess about it all – make up your own story and throw it in the comments below!

This is one of two paintings of mine hanging on the walls of Amy and Sean Bentley-Smith’s beautiful home in Long Beach. They also own “American Dream #3 – Three Suburban Choices.”