His work focuses on transcendentalism, attaining spiritual or moral enlightenment, and the balance and order of the universe.

Joe Light grew up on a farm outside of Dyersburg, Tennessee with his mother, Virgie (Virgin) Mary, and father, Hiawatha.

[1] His parents named him after Joe Louis, a famous boxer and hero among the African American community during the Jim Crow Era.

Although he rarely left his house or socialized with his neighbors, he maintained an almost Evangelical approach to spreading political justice and Old Testament-derived morality.

As he traveled the southern mid-west searching for a wife, he began chalking and graffitiing moral codes and Old Testament verses on public spaces.

His paintings feature illustrative outlines of landscapes or portraits in black, filled in with bold, saturated, often monochrome colors.

[6] Some art historians argue that Light's iconic, Pop Art- inspired painting style was influenced by his constant exposure to advertisements and branding while selling and refurbishing common wares at the market.

Another example is a painting that was documented inside Light's home of Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm, two characters from the prolific Flintstones cartoons, riding on a serpent through a garden.

For those unfamiliar, Light spelled out his messages in clear, written English or bold narrative imagery, so as to make interpretation as easy as possible.

"Because he has had no human mentor to guide and advise him along his life's treacherous road, he serves as his own counsel, as a Moses illuminating the way, fighting the adversaries, and leading himself toward the Promised Land.

Light has painted four versions of The Hobo, one black, one white, one red, and one yellow, in reference to his multi-cultural heritage.

When Light first heard the voice of God calling him to Judaism, a bird flew into the window of his cell in the penitentiary.