Jon Jaylo

The painting is in good condition, as is the canvas, which is clear and taut. Minor indications of wear and handling around the edges, corners and margins are evident but are unobtrusive. The paint layers are well-preserved and are in stable condition. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals no indication of retouching. Unframed, on stretcher.
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A dream within a dream is a state where a person or a dreamer is aware of one's dream within a dream. In a sequel to his "A Song for Alice" painting, Jon Jaylo entered deeper into human subconscious by exploring a 'dream within a dream' with his new work "Once upon a Dreamer's Glimpse."

Unlike the former painting, which portrays a teenaged mustached boy with subdued emotion, the latter depicts the boy's pre-adulthood stage with a blithely warm and confident face. Snuggled through his 19th century top hat, are two characters of Carol Lewis' part two novel (Alice in Wonderland) "Through the Looking Glass," namely Tweedle Dee and Dum with elephant's heads.

At the right side of the hat is Tweedle Dum playing a violin, while Tweedle Dee seems to be inviting the audience to enter into an open door within open doors amidst a green field, which symbolizes a state of dream within a dream. The backdrop of the painting mimics the theatrical elements with checkered floor and maze extending toward a dreary horizon.

The painting, in general, evokes the twilight of man's crossroad between adolescence and maturity. Here, the artist masterfully captured the remains of man's innocence and wonder through the boy's ripening smile toward adulthood. Using his son as his model for the painting, the artist himself sees his vision and dreams through his boy nearing manhood.

Occasionally, a man can go back to his youthful innocence and wonder to reminisce his dreams, but he can always tiptoe in reverie to ponder upon his vision in the context of his present and future existence. Perchance, this is the succulence of Jaylo's work with strong reference to his own 'Wonderland.' It is a magical world of his art, which is 'bereft of complications, where logic and reason is almost absent, where the distinction between real and fantasy is obscured by mystical reality.

- Danny Castillones Sillada