Still life paintings of food have a long and storied history. Dutch and Flemish 17th-century artists famously portrayed lush, overflowing banquet tables. Impressionist master Édouard Manet once enlisted a sprig of asparagus in a clever joke for a patron. Among Pop art’s most recognizable images are Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup cans and Wayne Thiebaud’s frosted cakes.

Vying for a spot in that august lineage today is artist Noah Verrier, who has painted subjects like Smuckers Uncrustables, jelly donuts, and a can of Diet Coke (a lower-calorie echo of Warhol’s Coca Cola bottles) in a style that calls back to the Old Masters. Along the way, he has garnered coverage in the pages of publications from Bon Appétit to the New York Times and racked up some 189,000 followers on Instagram (and almost as many on X). It all makes you wonder how many likes Manet would have achieved.

The artist has also earned plaudits from some art-world insiders. “After first discovering Verrier’s work on Instagram, I now own two of his pieces,” Sotheby’s chairman and president Americas, Mari Claudia Jimenez, said in an email. “I was captivated by his blend of Old Master still lifes and modern fast food culture, which I find both witty and charming.”  

Noah Verrier, McChicken (2022). Courtesy the artist.

Another fan is William Tomicki, formerly vice president at both Tiffany & Co. and Sotheby’s, now editor of the blog Travel by Entree, who also discovered Verrier on Instagram and owns one of his paintings. “Love his work,” Tomicki said in an email.

Verrier lives not in an artistic center like Manet’s Paris or Warhol’s New York, but rather in Tallahassee, Florida, with his family and their pets. He earned his BFA and MFA at Florida State University and credits his professors, including Mark Messersmith and Lilian Garcia-Roig, with introducing him to art history.

“That was a blessing,” the artist said in a phone interview. “The biggest thing I learned from them was the idea of intimate scenes of daily life and the lineage to Manet and Chardin. That was unique to me. The concept grew from there to what was to me a revolutionary concept, and it still is—that you can paint an intimate still life but then think about the time you’re living in. So many realist paintings out there look like they’re from two or three hundred years ago.”

Noah Verrier, Pringles, Caviar, Champagne (2024). Courtesy the artist.

He made a splash with the $4,999 paid last month for a small painting of a solitary Uncrustable in a shallow space, its luscious fruity filling dripping out onto the table where it rests. From a starting bid of $99 on September 12, some 10 bidders sent it up over the next three days. But that’s hardly the highest his prices go. “For a small one, that’s a pretty good price,” said Verrier. “But when you do a brand collaboration, those prices will be in the tens of thousands.”

Those commissions have come from brands such as Dunkin, Popeyes, Little Caesars, and Philadelphia Cream Cheese. Sometimes they want a painting to share on social media to promote a seasonal offering; sometimes they want an original oil painting to hang in their headquarters; and, in one recent instance, they wanted something special to send out to influencers.

Even in the section of his website showing available works, they all seem to be sold. He’s a “star seller” on Etsy, and earned 100 percent positive feedback across 428 eBay reviews. Some of his paintings there combine high and low: one shows a flute of champagne next to a serving of Cup Noodles, and another shows a martini alongside an Uncrustable.

But it’s not just brush on canvas. The artist has (perhaps inevitably) expanded into the ether with a set of NFTs of his paintings. The highest price paid is for one that is currently owned by Foundation user @owhyte and that shows a painting of Eggo waffles, a bottle of Log Cabin syrup, and flowers in a jar; it last traded for 2.5 ETH ($6,300 at time of writing). 

Noah Verrier, Martini and Uncrustable (2024). Courtesy the artist.

Those on a more limited budget can get prints in various sizes, some hand-embellished, for prices ranging from $47 to $299. Want to share your love of Verrier’s work with the world? Check out the 15 pages in the merchandise section of his site, where you can find mugs, t-shirts, tote bags, pillows, beach towels, sweatshirts, and much more, emblazoned with his imagery.

It all raises the question of whether he is, in part, having fun with it all.

“Nobody’s really talked about that, but 100 percent,” he said. Growing up, he enjoyed comedian Tom Green’s MTV show and the work of icons like Dave Chapelle. “I think your art reflects your personality: it’s fun and it makes you laugh and it makes you happy.” 

Noah Verrier, Taco Bell (2022). Courtesy the artist.

But it’s not just a gag, either. Verrier is that rare artist who actually talks about a spiritual dimension to his work. 

“For me, every painting is like a prayer to God,” reads a statement on his website. “I can be still, look closely, and interpret the colors, shapes, and emotion before me.”

Really? Yes, really, though he admits he can see the tension between the Hershey’s bar and the Higher Power.

“There’s a loving care you can give to these objects,” he said. “There’s the idea that the subject doesn’t matter, but maybe through this wet-on-wet, alla prima technique, and through gesture, you can inject some kind of emotion. You’re putting yourself into that piece, even if it’s cheesy, and that’s why it works.”