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!

Stylized illustration of a building with a large pizza on the roof. The building is labeled Museum of Modern Pizza in white letters on a red background. Geometric patterns and abstract forms surround the central pizza motif.

Museum of Modern Pizza

1980’s

Artist Unknown

Illustration of a man in a pinstripe suit and hat holding a deep-dish pizza. Text reads The Capone of Pizza and Zachary’s Chicago Style. Speech bubble says, Dis pie here...just might blow yous away. Pizza images form a background pattern.

The Capone of Pizza

2007

David Loya

Colorful abstract painting featuring the bold word Zacharys in gold against a blue background, with swirling patterns and bright shapes in red, green, yellow, and orange surrounding it.

Starry Night

2005

Beata Engl

Retro sci-fi poster titled Forbidden Pizza features a robot holding a pizza. It advertises pizza with titles like Psycho Spinach and Bleu Velvet Cheese, with a UFO and alien landscape in the background.

Bill Crews

2009

A colorful painting features a pink background with a cat on a pizza atop a table. Speech bubbles say, cats live longer if they eat pizza, among other playful cat-related notes. A seated cat holds a drink. Text reads Pizza-Crazy Cats!.

Sophia Maria Brown

2017

Age 10

I fell in love with Zachary’s pizza the first time it touched the tip of my tongue. I loved doing the artwork and it was a bonus to win twice! I think everyone should participate. Love live Zachary’s!

Childs drawing of Wild About with a zebra, crocodile, giraffe, flamingo, frog, and a palm tree. Two name cards: Zachary U. and Amber H. The animals are drawn in colorful, playful outlines against a light background.

Amber Huk

2007

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 childs drawing with a princess wearing a green crown, holding a pepperoni pizza slice. Text reads: Zacharys pizza I love you, I love you!!! Princesses love pepperoni pizza! Signed Eva Joseph, Age 4.

Eva Jaeger, 4 years old

2005

Eva, 4 years old Eva 14 years old

When I created this piece my family had moved from Berkeley to Manhattan for a year. When I look at this piece now it conjures up all the emotions of those moments: a longing for home and familiar things like Zachary’s, the excitement and adventure of being somewhere unknown and the joy of knowing that I’d be back to have some pizza soon. And of course, I was 4 and loved Princesses!

My inspiration for this piece was all the things I loved.  Princesses, pink, big art and pizza. I actually didn’t really like Pepperoni (truth be known) but the alliteration was too good to pass up!  The process I used for this piece was to draw it on a smaller piece of paper and then spread out on the floor, with all my markers tossed around, and the paper taped down.  Shoes off and spread across the whole thing I sketched by pencil and then dried out just about every marker pen filling in the spaces.  My brother, who was in 1st grade at the time, was also drawing next to me.  His poster actually was awarded an Honorable Mention and I was happy to be creating our pieces together.

This may be the peak of my artistic recognition.  Since that time the pieces I’ve created are much smaller and much more private, rarely venturing into public space.  I like to express my creativity in crafts, writing, on the stage and on the soccer field.  And my love for Princesses and pizza have also become a bit more subdued as I pursue higher ambitions than just being royalty. The thing I haven’t changed since then is a love for Zachary’s pizza.  Just finished one a minute ago!

Illustrated poster for Zacharys Chicago Pizza. A red bicycle with pizza wheels is set against a landscape with greenery and a tall clock tower. BERKELEY CALIFORNIA is written at the bottom.

Red Bike on Campus

2009

Carolyn Jaegar

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

Cartoon of a person in blue overalls and a cap walking with a large pizza on their head. They are next to a brick wall with a Zacharys Chicago Pizza sign, and the text Keep on Cookin is above. A yellow fence and houses are in the background.

Larry Holstrom

2007

A vibrant abstract painting depicting a pizza restaurant with tables, chairs, and pizzas. Signs include Open, Pizza Specials, and We Make It U You Yum. The artwork uses bold yellow, red, and blue colors, with playful geometric shapes.

Ernst

1990’s

Artist Unknown

Childs drawing of a cowboy on a rearing horse, lassoing a pizza in the sky. The text reads Lasso a Zacharys Pizza! The background features cacti, a sun, and desert hills. The artists name and age, Emma Jones, Age 10, are noted.

Emma Jones, age 10

Emma, Lasso piece 8.21.14

Hey, thanks for scrolling over my artwork! Waiting around for your food to come isn’t fun unless you’re at Zachary’s Pizza and gawking at all of the colorful, original artwork. So when I saw my shot to bring some joy to the casual diners, rolled up in this huge blank piece of paper for a contest, I couldn’t wait to get going. The paper really is huge, so one of the tile hallways in our house was promptly converted into an art studio (my Mom is legendary)! Over time I lost interest in finishing my piece, despite walking past it every day, however I was encouraged to finish it and now I’m so glad I did. Thank you again to Zach’s for this honor, and for bringing the taste of sweet home Chicago to the Joneses on their California detour.

 

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

Cartoon image of Sir Zachary wearing a horned helmet, holding a sword against a green dragon breathing pizza flames. The background shows a purple hill and a castle. Text reads Sir Zachary conquers the Pizza Dragon.

Leo Gould, 11 years old

2009

A colorful painting depicts cartoonish figures eating pizza at a table. One figure has green skin and another wears sunglasses. A large pizza with various toppings is shared, and the setting appears to be a lively pizza shop.

M. Yamagata

1995

A handwritten note on lined paper reads: Dear Zachary, My heart beats for your Chicago style pizza. I wish I could be with you every day. Would you like to go out with me? There are checkboxes for Yes and No. Its signed love, Maia.

Maia VuMinnich, 9 years old

2011

Colorful mural featuring a stylized figure in traditional attire pointing toward a vibrant circular design with a sun face. The text Zacharys is above and In Any Age is below the circle. Brown background enhances the designs vivid colors.

Mayan Calendar

1990’s

Artist Unknown

Colorful underwater scene with a dolphin, pufferfish, purple fish, and pink seahorse surrounding a large clam with a pearl inside. Text reads Precious as a Pearl and Zacharys with bubbles and seaweed accents.

Naumi Emoto, 13 years old

2012

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

kirsten ineich

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.”

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