Vincent van Gogh had his stars, Claude Monet had his water lilies, and Noah Verrier has his snacks.
Verrier’s still-life oil paintings often center around everyday food and beverage items, like burgers and light beers, and posts of his paintings frequently go viral on platforms like X, Instagram, and Reddit. In recent weeks, paintings featuring pairings like “Wine and Dino Nuggs” or “Espresso Martini and Uncrustable” have performed particularly well.
“There’s a little bit of comedy in it, and it’s kind of funny,” Verrier said of his painting style, which he described as “highbrow-lowbrow.” “I tend to like the more funny, serious-but-not-serious subjects.”
Those serious-but-not-serious subjects often feature packaging and logos front and center. Smucker’s, the maker of Uncrustables, was not involved in his Uncrustable painting, Verrier told us, but he has worked with brands over the years. His first official collaboration was with Popeyes in 2022, and since then, he’s worked with other brands like Cinnabon,Dunkin’, Little Caesars, Olipop, Reddi-wip, and Slim Jim.
While he relies on collaborations for part of his income as a full-time painter, Verrier told us that he doesn’t think about potential deals when coming up with subject-matter ideas.
“You don’t want to go down a road where you put yourself in a trap and now you’re creating things you don’t like,” he said. “I’ve always tried to be authentic with the things I’ve done and pick the things that are the most fun to see where it goes.”
Oil (and grease) on canvas
It’s been seven years since Verrier quit his job as an adjunct professor at Florida State University to pursue painting full-time. Now, he said he spends Monday through Saturday each week in his studio, often completing one painting per day.
While he was selling paintings and taking commissions prior to 2022, a viral post on X that included a photo of one of his grilled-cheese paintings that year marked a “huge turning point” in terms of visibility, leading to inquiries from brands like Popeyes, he told us.
Verrier said he doesn’t proactively reach out to brands, and he rarely tags the ones he chooses to feature in his paintings. Still, he’s received gifts from McDonald’s and Duke’s Mayo in response to art that was not created as part of brand deals, and he has watched brand accounts repost or comment on his paintings. It can be mutually beneficial: those reposts and replies sometimes boost engagement and can help him drive sales, he told us.
Sometimes, the subjects of his paintings turn into bigger brand partnerships. Following a recent painting of a Wendy’s meal, Verrier said he’s been in talks with the brand around a potential partnership. He said he’s also been in discussions with World Market to distribute prints. One day, he said, he hopes to work with Chick-fil-A.
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After the drive-through coffee chain 7 Brew commissioned a painting from Verrier for its social accounts, the brand is working with him on behind-the-scenes content, Cory Hinton, head of digital and social marketing at 7 Brew, told Marketing Brew.
“We’re constantly on the lookout for new ways to bring our brand and products to life, which creators like Noah can unlock,” Hinton said via email. “We believe this collaboration will be a fun surprise for our fans, and Noah’s work perfectly emphasizes our obsession with art while bringing a new style to our content grid.”
Verrier said he makes the bulk of his income from sales of prints and originals over brand deals, and has only experienced one instance of a brand asking for royalties from print revenue, which he opted not to sell. When working with brands, he said he prefers to give them the original artwork to keep or share as part of a giveaway—an added bonus, he said, of working with an artist versus a more typical creator.
“When a social media team teams up with a [creator], usually, it’s just, ‘Hey, here’s my review,’” he said. “My value is you get to show an authentic piece of art…And then not only that, you can give the fans this original [art] and a gift card and maybe a print.”
7 Brew, for its part, has plans to hang their custom piece of artwork in their office, Hinton said.
When deciding what to paint, Verrier said he often has no idea what will end up going viral. Like the rest of us, he says he is always surprised to see what gets people—and brands—talking.
“That’s the beauty of art for social media,” he said. “You get to be seen. Hopefully.”