Pizza Art

We started an art contest in the mid-1980s and have continued the tradition every few years or so since then. We now have over 300 pieces of Zachary’s pizza art from the past three decades! The winning artwork decorates the walls in all five of our restaurants. We love the art and the artists and are excited and honored to be able to share some of the art on our website!

A colorful painting features a Bigfoot holding a large white sign with a red crescent. Bigfoot walks beside a tree labeled Zacharys with a backdrop of a river, trees, and cloudy sky. Flowers and mushrooms decorate the foreground.

Todd Paoletti

2009

A vintage-style poster with the text The joy of eating Zacharys Chicago Pizza is why we come back again and again. Features illustrations of a smiling woman and man enjoying slices of pizza topped with pepperoni.

Marvin Ehrlich

2012

“My name is Marvin Ehrlich. May 29th, 2014, I will be 89 years old. It makes me happy to win a Zachary’s poster contest at my age. The right question is 75% of the solution. “What makes Zachary’s so successful?” became “The Joy of eating a Zachary’s pizza is why we come back again and again” (illustrated with a woman and a man joyfully eating a wedge of pizza). Good luck to you all.”

A blue background with the name Zacharys in large white letters at the top. A cartoon character on a ladder reaches for a pizza slice among many red and orange pizza slices and circles hanging down.

Nikola Bachman

2012

Hi my name is Nikola. I just graduated from high school this past June. While attending high school, I was also taking art classes at Berkeley City College. I’m currently enrolled in my fourth art class at BCC. I’m drawn to Japanese animation and graphic novels. Someday I’d love to visit Japan. Drawing older architectural buildings using a realistic cartoon flare, is one of my styles as small details are important to me. I’m a cat lover at heart therefore the kitty in the painting that I drew for Zachary’s was inspired by my own cat Jackson, even though they look nothing alike. It was the first time that I’ve entered one of my art pieces into a contest. I was happily surprised to have won! This was the third time however, that I’ve had my art up for public display. Another important project of mine is writing a graphic novel. The title, story line and illustrations are all my own and I hope to be published someday. I like going out to eat with my family. Our favorite spot for pizza is Zachary’s. We always order the Chicago deep dish, with mushrooms and spinach. Yummy!

A colorful artwork featuring a green scooter with a pepperoni pizza slice as a wheel. The background is yellow with vertical stripes in red and blue. Text reads, Not just a pizza... A lifestyle. A circled arrow points upwards.

Stew Ellington

2017

My painting was inspired by a dual love for Zachary’s deep-dish spinach-and-mushroom pizza and vintage Italian Vespa scooters. I thought it would be a good idea to connect the two by making the front wheel of the scooter a deep-dish pizza. I had a lot of fun using bright, primary colors to imitate the style of Italian Vespa ads from the 50s and 60s. It’s so awesome to take part in this community tradition! Thanks, Zachary’s!

Museum of Modern Pizza

1980’s

Artist Unknown

A painting of a black and white dog sitting on a pink armchair, holding a slice of pizza in its mouth. The background is green with the text: Harrys a lucky dog he gets Zacharys!.

Lisa Hayle

2005

“I heard about Zachary’s Pizza through friends who also mentioned the awesome annual poster contest, which they had won in the past with an entry featuring their two adorable poodles. Soon after, I tasted the deep-dish yumminess for the first time…. I first saw Harry in 2002, while working briefly at the East Bay SPCA in Oakland. It was love at first sight.” – Lisa Hayle

A colorful poster for Zacharys Deep Dish Pizza features a muscular, cartoonish character lifting two steaming pizzas like weights. The words Amazing, Stupendous, World Famous are above Deep Dish Pizza. The character wears a Pizza Champ belt.

Chuck Waite

2005

Slices of cheesy, steaming deep-dish pizza levitate upwards on a blue background, surrounded by the text Zacharys in bold red letters on both sides.

Pizza Stairs

2009

Kevin Shields

Rianne Myers

2015

Raquel Royal

2011

Colorful drawing featuring a large pizza labeled Zacharys in the center. Surrounded by playful animal figures, hearts, and phrases such as I love Zacharys Pizza! and It has cheese in it. A whimsical and fun design with vibrant colors.

Simone Gardner

2015

Childs drawing of a yellow dog wearing a blue collar with Zach on it, surrounded by two pizzas with slices. Zacharys is written in red at the top. A small Morgan 8 is written in the bottom left corner. The background is blue.

Morgan Marsh

2015

A retro-style illustration of a smiling woman serving pizza to a family at a table, featuring the text, I only feed my family the best, and only Zacharys Chicago-style pizza has vitamin Z! The family appears joyful with a large pizza in front.

Vitamin Z

2001

Danny Hauck

Illustration of a red bridge and hills on a blue sky background. A bold red circle surrounds Zacharys Chicago Pizza in the center, with the phrase I left my heart at written above in cursive.

Kirstin Ineich

2012

I always like looking at the different posters created by Zachary’s patrons. When the opportunity came to create my own, I had just come back from San Francisco, and I knew I wanted to incorporate it into my piece. The Zachary’s logo integrates well with the Golden Gate Bridge, so, I chose to paint the iconic bridge. When I think of San Francisco, I always think of Tony Bennett’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” playing after a Giants’ home-game win at AT&T Park and the way it makes me feel. And, every time you eat at Zachary’s, you get the same feeling. So, I tied the whole thing together with the tagline “I left my heart at Zachary’s.”

Colorful artwork of a person in bed, dreaming of a large pepperoni pizza. Text reads Dreaming of Zacharys Pizza. The room is filled with stars, a dresser with fruit, and a window showing a crescent moon.

Lauren Ari

2009

“Lauren’s art roars out of the deepest part of her psyche and arrives with great tenderness into the world… Fiercely honest, playful, erotic and provocative, she speaks directly to what is still unfettered in all of us, our wild, free, animal selves.” – Alison Luterman, poet

When I’m lucky -when I trust the processes- I experience a flow and receive what feels like a gift. Although my work is personal, I believe it taps into the universal, and I am looking to connect with others and myself more deeply. These are words I associate with my work: intuitive, awake, unstuffed, humorous, rhythmic, disturbing, engrossing, sexual, figurative, colorful, unique and complex. It is my hope that you will enjoy experiencing the work as much as I enjoy making it. – Lauren Ari

laurenari.com

A colorful painting of a butterfly with yellow and red wings. Above it is a sun with Zacharys written inside. Below, flowers in red, white, and blue, a bee hovering, and a brown rabbit are set against a blue sky background.

Pizza Butterfly

Emma Ruth, age 6

2012

“When I first mentioned the art contest to Emma (she was six at the time) her immediate response was “C’mon, let’s get started!” She then began producing sketches. One of these had a couple of butterfly’s, but originally with more normal butterfly wings with pizza slices as the wing pattern. I made the suggestion the design could be strengthened by having the wings BE pizza slices, and the final composition was arrived at!”

Illustration of a woman in a blue dress with pizza toppings, sitting on a chair. Shes against an orange background with flying birds and floral patterns. An old portrait is framed on the wall. Text reads Zacharys Chicago Pizza Inc.

Birthe Lauvdal

2012

An abstract poster for Zacharys Chicago Pizza featuring a colorful depiction of a pizza slice topped with various ingredients and symbols such as a tomato, pickle, pepperoni, and a clover. The number 30 is at the bottom right corner.

Pizza Operation

2012

Jason Tracy

Illustration of a bride and groom smiling and feeding each other pizza from a three-tiered stand labeled Zacharys. Text reads, Love is...3 tiers of Zacharys deep dish. A pizza slicer and roses are on the table.

Lori and William Wallace

2015

My son, William (13 yrs old) and I are deeply grateful to Zachary’s for the joy it brings our lives. Not only the DELICIOUS gluten free pizza (thank you, thank you!), but also the connection it weaves through community. We have monitored the art contest for years and have waited for the opening where time and creative spark would coincide and bring us to this moment of participation. And here we are! The inspiration behind this piece was to weave in the theme of “shared love”. What better depiction of shared love than a wedding day and the site of a loving groom feeding his delighted bride a slice of Zachary’s deep dish?! Love IS Zachary’s Pizza xo

Pop art style image of a woman and man about to kiss. Speech bubble from the man reads, I think Im falling in love! Zacharys Chicago Pizza is written in the top left corner.

ZAK WILSON

1992
I’m a big fan of pop art and wanted to create something in that style. The Roy Lichtenstein look fit the vibe of the idea. That and I wanted to win some free pizza. (The first time I ate Zachary’s) had to be in the mid 80’s sometime. A good friend worked at the Solano store so I was turned on to Zachary’s Pizza early in the game. That same friend is now one of the owners.

I’m a native of Berkeley and have been in the Bay Area my whole life. Aside from the cost of living what’s not to like about the Bay Area? All my immediate family is here. Good weather, culture, sports, food (hint, hint…). It’s one of many amazing places in the country…but this one happens to be home.