‘American Jesus’ mural in downtown Spokane turns heads

SPOKANE, Wash. – A new mural near downtown Spokane is turning heads.

Spokane artist Daniel Lopez designed the picture of Jesus Christ with a pixelated face months ago, and was commissioned to paint one of his sketches on the side of the Spokane Dream Center near 2nd Avenue and Division.

“I think it’s super relevant to a lot of religious issues,” Lopez said Monday. “Especially with Christianity and censorship, especially like censorship with Jesus.”

American Jesus

A post shared by Mr.Inspiration (@godffiti) on Apr 15, 2018 at 6:58pm PDT

Lopez said he’s refrained from giving his interpretation or intention behind the painting because he wants other people to decide what it means to them.

“I just hope that people know I’m trying to say something instead of showing something,” he said. “…I’d prefer not to give my own explanation about it. I feel that kind of robs people of their own interpretation.”

Lopez did say most of the feedback he has gotten has been positive and thoughtful.

American Jesus mural done by yours truly. from r/Spokane

“Most of my responses from all the other ones are like, 'wow, amazing, I love this,'” he explained. “But for this one I’ve had, like, real actual thought, like a lot of thoughts coming in.”

And it’s true. On Reddit, where Lopez posted one of the first pictures of the finished mural, dozens of comments rolled in, debating the meaning of the painting and mostly offering compliments.

✞American Jesus wall 2018 ✞ Downtown Spokane, Wa. Proud to have painted this wall amongst the other historic buildings downtown - in the city that I call home. Extremely thankful for the surprisingly enormous and overwhelming amount of support and love I have received from the day I started this project. Thank you to the brothers and sisters at the Spokane Dream center and big big thanks to Mrs. Rhonda Leeds for all the behind the scenes support and to those who believe in me and who continue to support what I do. To God be the glory ~@godffiti #streetart #streetarteverywhere #spokane #pnw #godsplan #jesus #america #americanjesus

A post shared by Mr.Inspiration (@godffiti) on May 18, 2018 at 5:21pm PDT

“I had no idea that so many people were going to love it,” Lopez laughed. “So I’ve really just been feeling a lot of love.”

Lopez said he has designed more than 30 murals across town in the few years he has lived here and plans to do more.

“Like, I don’t do it for myself, I do it for the city,” he explained.