the sign
There is a sign that I have been walking past every morning for several years now. The original lettering on the sign was painted over with black paint. The rest of the sign was a fire engine red. One day I stopped to take a photo of the sign and suddenly realized that I was looking at a piece of spontaneous art. As a matter of fact, the more I paint, the more I notice that there is art all around me. I went around and photographed the other side of the sign and was surprised to see that it was almost identical to the front.
Almost, but not quite. It was as if the anonymous painter over of the lettering, indeed guided by the letters to be covered, but also compelled by some obscure sense of symmetry, had been forced to again create the same mysterious and moving shape.
I resolved then and there to make a piece of art out of this experience. I knew I would not be able to improve on the esthetic of this astonishing object, so I resolved to reproduce it as accurately as possible on canvas. On the reverse side of the sign, when you looked closely, you could just read the original lettering. It said, “Mattress Firm.”
I looked across the small parking area to the now closed-up store. I remembered when it had still been open. In fact, I had even been in there. The store had been closed for a couple of years now. I wondered why. I seemed to recall that there had been a robbery or something. I did a little research online. What I found was shocking and moving.
In May 2014 two men robbed the Mattress Firm store on South Boulevard. The owners of the store were a husband and wife couple, Doug and Debbie London. The robbers were members of a gang. Doug had witnessed the robbery and gang members swore vengeance on the Londons after they persisted in showing up at the preliminary court hearings. They found out where the Londons lived and delegated hitman Malcolm Hartley to go the London home in Lake Wylie, SC, miles away from Charlotte, and kill them.
Hartley, known among gang members as “Bloody Silent,” rang the bell at the Londons’ home the night of October 23, 2014. He shot and killed Debbie London when she opened the door. Doug London fired one shot before his gun jammed. Then Hartley shot him multiple times. During his escape, Hartley stopped and retraced his steps when he heard Doug London crying. He found the gravely wounded husband grieving over his wife’s body, and shot him again. Ultimately Hartley was caught and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison.
I now knew why the sign had been painted over, and probably the reason for the store still being vacant.
I thought of the symbolism of the two sides of the sign being painted over. Two lives erased. I thought of the irony of a piece of art arising out of this tragedy. I considered the impertinence of making this into a mere painting. But despite tearing up whenever I think about the Londons, I decided to go ahead with my project.
Let this painting in red and black be then a memorial to Doug and Debbie.