“Food Carts” Deliver

The Ricky D’s Rib Shack food truck filled the streets of Westville with the sweet aromas of barbecued ribs, brisket, and pulled pork sandwiches — while hanging on a gallery wall at the same time.

The long, white truck was parked in front of Da Silva Gallery. Inside a painting of the truck was on display.

Artist Chris Ferguson—Yale shuttle bus driver by day, emerging New Haven painter in his other hours—had captured the colorful contours of Ricky D. Evans’ mobile takeout joint in gesso and oil paint. He included the work in Food Carts, a tasty new exhibition that opened runs through the end of the month.

Evans was one of several vendors whom Ferguson had invited to the show’s opening at the Da Silva Gallery on Whalley Avenue this past weekend because they had let him photograph, draw, and paint a scene of their vending in action for the local artist’s first solo themed exhibition.

There are 21 scenes on small to medium canvases, all executed in a loose but controlled manner that is far more interested in light, volumes, and human gestures than in ribs or hot dogs; about two dozen people showed up at the opening to enjoy the pieces and grab a pulled pork sandwich.

Evans had thought Ferguson’s invite was primarily one of thanks and to vend, and was genuinely flabbergasted when he entered the gallery.

He beheld his truck on the wall, complete with him relaxing on a folding chair between sales, and pronounced the work, along with the other canvases, ​“beautiful.”

Ferguson’s idea to paint a series of food trucks and carts began a year ago, as the crowded, lively cart scene was a constant sight in his work driving the Yale shuttle from Cedar Street to the VA in West Haven.

At that time Ferguson was showing paintings of local scenes — though not the food trucks and carts — at DaSilva. He pitched gallery director Gabriel Da Silva on doing an all food-truck show. Da Silva agreed. He said he particularly likes the way Ferguson handles light and architectural renderings and he thinks food trucks and art have a lot of in common, including both needing to be entrepreneurial. 

Then he excused himself to go out and get a pulled pork sandwich.

Part of the pleasure of Ferguson’s paintings lies in recognizing familiar trucks and locales, but Ferguson said he deliberately obscured names, menus, and other identifying marks because he was after bigger artistic game: ​“The way people interact, load the trucks, they’re my favorite subject.”

Ferguson’s technique was to look carefully as he drove; then, in the five-minute intervals between his runs, he turned off his van, went out, observed more closely, and took photographs, first of the Cedar Street vendors and then at other locales. He did drawings from the photographs, and then the canvases over a period of months.

He began to notice some characteristic gestures that you see in a number of the works, such as the way women dip slightly as they reach into their purses to get money from their pocketbooks.

“I noticed the women will talk more to the food vendors. The men were more focused on what they’re going to eat. Concentrating, not socializing.”

On the other hand, the men’s physical gestures interested Ferguson too, all the lifting and hauling. ​“I wasn’t interested in the food at all,” he said.

Art Meets Brisket

Ferguson said he deliberately chose to work in what he called a ​“loose” style. ​“I’d like people to see a dreamy image of what they see [in their daily lives] rather than an exact replica,” he said.

Ferguson said that the two largest vendors on Cedar Street particularly interested him. He couldn’t include them in the show because he felt he needed much larger canvases, and there wasn’t time. That’s next up, and he’s already begun the photographing and drawing research between his bus runs.

He was pleased that before an hour had gone by, at least one of the works had sold and Ricky D’s was dong a brisk business. ​“I hope he gives me one for free,” Ferguson said.

If he didn’t, Da Silva said he would buy Ferguson that sandwich.

Da Silva is opening up a similar gallery and frame shop in Guilford, at 2496 Boston Post Rd. He inaugurates the new space on Nov. 15 with a show of encaustic paintings by New Jersey artist Jim Inzero.