Exhibition
Tom Christopher • In Situ
Rooms,
Not Walls
Paintings in Lived Space
“We’ve placed Tom’s paintings in the company of things — classical statues, foundry crucibles, a few pieces of furniture.”
Lift Trucks — Croton Falls, New York
The idea came from Japan. At MATSUSO × Galerie Taménaga in Tokyo, Tom’s work was shown alongside furniture and objects in a showroom setting. The response was immediate — collectors understood the work differently when it existed in a room rather than isolated on a white wall.
At Lift Trucks, we took that instinct further. The paintings now share space with antique stone statues, with iron crucibles from an old foundry — objects that carry their own weight, their own time. The combination wasn’t planned. It became obvious.
This is not a gallery. It’s a studio that became a showroom. The work is available directly, and best seen in person.
The Installation
Paintings alongside
statues and crucibles.
Classical antique statues. Iron crucibles from an old foundry. A few pieces of furniture. Tom’s paintings on the walls.
We thought it would make an interesting environment to view artwork. We were right.
The Work
New York,
forty years in.
Tom Christopher has been painting New York since 1981. Not the skyline as postcard — the city as pressure, as color, as noise made visible. Each painting is a record of what it feels like to be inside something that won’t hold still.
Against the stillness of stone statues and cold iron crucibles, the paintings do something unexpected. The contrast isn’t contradiction — it’s conversation. Ancient objects, contemporary paint. Both carrying time in different ways.
Medium Oil on canvas
Status Available — studio provenance
Acquisition Direct from the studio, by appointment
Prices Not listed online — inquire personally
The New Yorker
“Monet had his water lilies and Tom Christopher has Times Square.”
— David Owen, The New Yorker
The Butler Institute of American Art
“Tom Christopher has become to American painting what Count Basie or Duke Ellington became to American popular music.”
— Dr. Louis Zona, Director
Collections
Office of the Mayor of New York City · The Butler Institute of American Art · Museum of the City of New York · The New York Historical Society · Goldman Sachs & Co. · The New York Times · Time Warner Inc. · NewsCorp — Rockefeller Center · Mount Holyoke College · Fondation Colas, Paris
The Inspiration
The idea
came from Japan.
In January 2025, Tom’s work was exhibited at MATSUSO × Galerie Taménaga in Tokyo under the title Quiet Luxury. His paintings were presented alongside furniture and designed objects in a showroom environment.
The Japanese concept of ma, the use of meaningful negative space and deliberate relationships between objects, shaped how we approached the Lift Trucks installation. Not decoration. Not display. A setting in which the work can be encountered.
Tom Christopher in the studio, Croton Falls
The Artist
Forty years of New York.
Born in Hollywood in 1952, trained at Art Center College of Design under Ward Kimball and Lorser Feitelson, Tom Christopher moved to New York in 1981 and never left the subject. He has painted the Roseland Mural in Times Square at 225 feet wide, designed for Absolut Vodka, collaborated with Lichtenstein Editions at MASS MoCA, and shown from the Grand Palais in Paris to Galerie Taménaga in Tokyo. His work lives in the permanent collections of institutions that define American art.
Selected Milestones
2025Lichtenstein Editions, MASS MoCA · Galerie Taménaga, Tokyo
2021New York Historical Society & Asia Society Museum
2014Brill Building — live painting in Times Square
2008The Butler Institute of American Art, Ohio
2007Condé Nast Building, NYC Percent for Art Commission
2006PRINT — exhibited alongside Andy Warhol & Ken Price
1999“New, New York Views” — Museum of the City of New York
1998Roseland Mural, Times Square — 225 ft wide
1995Absolut Christopher · News Corp mural, Rockefeller Center
Gallery Representation
Galerie Taménaga — Paris, Tokyo, OsakaGalerie Barbara von Stechow — FrankfurtLift Trucks Art — New York
Available Works
Nine paintings,
direct from the studio.
These are not reproductions and they are not waiting in a warehouse. Every painting on this page is hanging at Lift Trucks right now, in the company of stone and iron and natural light. They were made to be lived with — and they are ready to leave with the right collector.
Prices are not listed. This is deliberate. A conversation about a painting should start with the painting, not a number. Inquire directly, visit in person, and see what forty years of New York looks like on canvas.
Like a Rhinestone Cowboy
36 × 36 in. · Oil on canvas
A Friendly Beacon
40 × 30 in. · Oil on canvas
A Thousand Voices All At Once
30 × 40 in. · Oil on canvas
She Spoke Of Night Blooming Jasmine, White Horses, Moonlight and Havana Cigars. Of Course I Believed Her.
48 × 36 in. · Oil on canvas
Painting Like It’s 1999
36 × 48 in. · Oil on canvas
That Exuberant Building At Night
40 × 30 in. · Oil on canvas
Energetic Night Sky
54 × 72 in. · Oil on canvas
Owl
40 × 30 in. · Enamel
And That Decision Just Made My Day
20 × 30 in. · Oil on canvas
Medium
Oil on canvas, enamel. Each work is unique — no editions, no reproductions.
Provenance
Direct from the artist’s studio. Lift Trucks Art, Croton Falls, New York.
Inquiries
Prices disclosed in person or by direct correspondence. No online pricing.
Come See the Work
The showroom is open
by appointment.
These are not gallery hours. The work is best seen at length, in the space it shares with the objects around it. Inquiries are handled directly by Tom.
Location
3 East Cross Street, Rt. 22
Croton Falls, NY 10519
50 miles from New York City
Acquisitions
No prices listed online.
Works available to view at the showroom.
All inquiries handled personally.
Contact