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 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!

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

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

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.

 

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

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

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!”

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 whimsical painting of a blue anthropomorphic cat wearing a pink apron, holding a pizza, and standing near an oven. A purple cat and a green cat watch. A retro clock and the word Purrrfecto!!! are on the wall.

Marko Yamagata

2015

A surreal painting of a pizza slice with a human face, featuring blue eyes and a red mouth. It wears a blue hat and suit, holding a movie camera. The background has Zacharys Chicago Pizza written in red.

Chris Papa

2001

Retro-style poster with fiery text saying It Came From... Zacharys Chicago Pizza. Features two flying pizzas and a surprised woman looking up. The background is colorful and chaotic, with a vintage sci-fi/horror theme.

Gaytha Watley

2005

Gaytha WatleyThis poster was inspired by Betty Page, Sci-Fi movies & pizza. Gaytha is a tattooer at Sacred Rose Tattoo in Berkeley. She also paints in oils and watercolors, and enjoys ceramics and sewing. “This piece was made with pen & ink. I sketch out the shapes in a light pencil, and build up an outline from there. I color it from light to dark, to keep the light colors from smudging.”

A person wearing a straw hat is fishing from a cliff into a sea of pizza with large pepperoni. Strings of lights hang from the cliff. Blue sky and white swirling smoke fill the background. A red circle logo reads Zacharys Chicago Pizza Inc.

Mary Youm

2011

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

Illustrated poster of a boy looking up at a large pepperoni pizza. Text reads The Pizza of Your Dreams! with Zacharys vertically on the right. The boy wears a shirt with the Zacharys logo.

Raquel Royal

2011

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 werewolf howls while eating a slice of cheesy pizza under a moonlit sky. The moon features the Zacharys Chicago Pizza logo. Text reads, I’m howling for you!.

Rianne Myers

2015

Vintage-style illustration of three women in green uniforms enjoying pizza under the bold text Zacharys. Each woman holds or eats a slice, with one serving from a pizza tray. A red circle partially encircles the text.

April Galvin

2011

Silhouettes of two men in a dramatic noir-style setting. One holds a steaming pizza at a doorway, while the other stands in a spotlight. Text reads Its in the Pie. The background suggests an urban night scene.

Pete Davis

2001

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

Bold, colorful poster for Zacharys Pizza showing a slice of pizza over a red circle, with Since 1983 beneath. The background is dark, and the text is bright yellow and red.

Lindsey Rosellini

2012

SOLD in our 2018 Art Sale and Fundraiser!