The Art of Towering Texas Fast Food Signage

“What, after all, is the majesty of the Hill Country compared to the majesty of the orange and white Whataburger logo?asks Texas Monthly’s Dan Solomon. It’s a question that feels wrong to poseHow dare you put Texas’s natural charm on the same plane as the sprawl we’ve layered over it — but also feels wrong to ignore. “Texans often display their enthusiasm for homegrown chains without a hint of irony,” writes Solomon. So why not just embrace our freeway-side icons in good-old-fashioned oil-and-canvas style?

San Antonio artist Michael Esparza’s done just that with his work, which the internet recently discovered after one well-followed editor tweeted out a link to his Etsy shop. There, he offers prints of paintings like the ones above that range from, er . . . hyper-realist:

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To absurd:

Images: Michael Esparza

Texana, Reimagined

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