Chilitos on Macon
Memphis’ patina of rust and concrete and peeling paint speaks of a city that has lived and built and moved and changed and rebuilt. On brick walls from Orange Mound to downtown, you can find hand-lettered, disappearing ghost signs or freshly painted masterpieces advertising everything from car washes to vacuum cleaner repair.
Chef’s Supply and Design on Hollywood
Central BBQ on Summer
As a food photographer I’ve always been particularly interested in how sign painters represent food. There’s beauty in the dark-outlined representations of ribs, cheeseburgers, and wings that seem to float in mid-air devoid of any context. There’s an abundance of comedy, too, in the cartoon versions of the animals we eat — a chicken cooking a chicken, pigs dancing, a catfish smiling.
Valle’s Italian Rebel on Winchester
Below is a collection of images of some of my personal favorite hand-painted signs of food that I shot throughout the years. Some of the paintings are by artists including the late James “Brick” Brigance and Melvin Upchurch. Other paintings are anonymous and fading. For me, the trick is to look and find the art hidden in plain sight that surrounds us every day.
Memphis Big Burger on Hollywood
Old Style Smokin! BBQ on S. Parkway
Effie’s Lounge on N. Second
Live Catfish on Lamar
