Asheville, NC

Unscaled uncooked fish, ashtray pot pie.  I actually took this a while back so I assume Mama’s Soul Food is a microbrewery now.

Denver, CO

It’s refreshing to break out of the hot dogs and hamburgers routine.  This is from the Ethiopian section of town, perhaps unbound by American cultural expectations of food signs. Either way, I’ve never seen this painted before. Debatably fruit cocktail, but the shape embedded in the whipped cream and the calamari rings do leave room for questions.

Mt. Vernon, NY

I really enjoy looking at this. Not because I like it; in fact, it makes me feel pretty uneasy. The confrontational Halloween elements interfering with the making of this soup. But the wobbly bowl, thick outlines around everything, the great yellow outpouring with the black dashes. There is a wonderful white negative space throughout makes it all seem strangely intentional.

Gary, Indiana

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Same food truck as the “chips” painting below.  It is true that I’ve never painted cotton candy before, I assume it’s tricky.  I’ll leave it at that.

Asheville, North Carolina

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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.

Gary, Indiana

“Can I get some hot oysters please?  What do you mean you don’t have them they’re painted right there… oh sorry, I didn’t read the text.  Can I get some chips please?”

 

Lebanon, Tennessee

This shape definitely benefits from accompanying text.

Baldwin, Georgia

This is one of the first photos I took back in 2004 for what would eventually become this Hand-Painted Food Signs Archive.  It is/was painted on a billboard on Interstate 985 near the Chattahoochee National Forest in North Georgia. An admirable shadow under the food block. The five-tined fork was thrust into that chunk of food cube and next will be forcefully jammed into a wide-open man mouth.

There are hundreds of food signs in this ever-growing Archive.  They have not been posted publicly or properly analyzed, but will be, starting… now.