There it is again! The hot dog at a 45° angle. Funny, the linear quality of the food must make painters want to represent them at an angle. This hot dog has a Delta IV thing going on.
Asheville, North Carolina
January 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Rabbit’s Motel, a good old meat and three place. Meat, in this case is fish. The three are up for grabs. Many food signs, like the establishments they once advertised, are deteriorating. One of the purposes of the HPFSA is to preserve an image of a painting before it disappears.
Denver, Colorado
January 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Ah-ha! This is the first example in the HPFSA where a single painter shows up on two different establishments. This is clearly the same painter who did this one at Alemeda & Sheridan.
(Wadsworth & Louisiana)
Tucson, Arizona
January 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Harsh and stiff lines, using a straight edge for everything but the splash. Decidedly uncelebratory in feeling.
(1st Ave.)
Tupelo, Mississippi
January 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Barbecue sandwich? I’m not sure what to say about this, though the choice to not mix the reds and browns completely does give it the pork-in-sauce look.
Tennessee (location unknown)
January 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Solid. Monumental hoop of cheese, restrained in detail, but not lazily painted. All the letters hand-painted but not sloppy. Timeless.
(photo by R. Fortner)
Show-Low, Arizona
January 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
As American as this Protestant pie. If you want your food painted at lecherous angles or in cavalier colors, you may like to dine someplace else. Like Babylon.
Chicago, Illinois
January 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Surprisingly realistic banana split, the drips are working, and as we’ve discussed, they don’t always.
Faben, Texas
January 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
More from the same place, same strange shadow choice. it’s like a shadow, but it doesn’t act like a shadow. Sorry about the glare, the rapture was just starting.
Faben, Texas
January 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
These appear to be cut-outs (which is a whole category of food signs) but they are not. I wonder why the painter decided on that shadow; it represents light acting upon a form, but not the form that’s being represented. Angle, angle, angle. This place was covered in food paintings.
New Orleans, Louisiana
January 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
That sandwich reaches the vanishing point. I was giving a presentation about the Hand-Painted Food Signs Archive recently and my neighbor from across the street came to the talk. He has a collection of photographs of signs using superlatives. This one would work for both collections.
(Chartres Ave.)
Natchez, Mississippi
January 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Hot dogs are so frequently painted at a lecherous angle.
Benson, Arizona
January 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Cocktails are under-represented. The occasional martini glass, but wine drinkers seem to keep their imagery mechanically-derived, maybe a social class distinction. It is a fact that the wealthier a neighborhood, the fewer hand-painted food signs. Yet, more art galleries. Funny.
Ozona, Mississippi
January 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Well, there are those asterisks again. Why is that a go-to embellishment all over the country? Where do we learn that?
Ozona, Mississippi
January 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Popcorn, being brought to our attention by a pickle. I enjoy how the original image has been preserved by whomever was rolling on a fresh coat of white paint. This is begging for some popcorn to be spilt to complete the trompe l’oeil.
Ozona, Mississippi
January 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Oh right, there are others from this Ozona concession stand. Is that a cloud of coldness?
Baird, Texas
January 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment
A lot of bravado for a rather bland and risk-averse painting of a cheeseburger. And you’re missing an apostrophe.
Denver, Colorado
January 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Now that takes the asterisks theme to a celestial level.
(Alameda & Sheridan)
Lumberton, North Carolina
January 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The second panel of the triptych of the roadside trinity: hamburger, fries, hotdog. This food stand has a moral uprightness. You can build a bridge with these fries.
Lumberton, North Carolina
January 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Very definite shadow and light source. It has mass and takes up space. And you can sit in its shade during the long light of evening. The most trustworthy hamburger in South-central North Carolina.
Chicago, Illinois
January 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Ah, yes see, there’s another incomplete sign. Why not paint the onions? Or, did they decide they would be white anyway? No matter. Bob Ross-ian corner-brushing happening on those trees back there.
(Clark Street)
Natchez, Mississippi
January 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
That looks scary hot. Even the improvised gold border can’t contain the steam. This hotdog is very close to my heart; it is from my hometown and says something to me about that town. Not sure what, but there it is. Look, asterisks again.
(St. Catherine Street)
West Asheville, North Carolina
January 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
See, now that’s actually drippy, but accidentally. Maybe this is the food sign painter who realized that paint is naturally drippy and instead of trying to represent drippy, you can just BE drippy. I like the tomato seen from the side, a convincing reflection.
(Mama’s Soul Food, Haywood Road)