Unstarving Artists
With 2,500 products rotating through its grocery shelves, each Trader Joe’s has to churn out a good number of its signature cutesy price labels. In fact, the number's so good that each TJ's—including the West End location that opened early this month—must hire a a full-time, four-person art team to deal with it all. The way it works is a classic division-of-labor: two artists devote themselves to creating laminated labels, while one handles 3-D signage and the other tackles wall paintings.
But about two months before the store on 25th Street NW was up and running, the trained art professionals had a more long-term task for the location. Faced with an empty space, they were to create the feel of a Trader Joe’s—and more specifically, one fit for the nation’s capital. As quirky and droll as TJ's private labels come across, the team of West End artists knew they had to be careful. They wanted to amuse us, pay respect to our home, but ran the risk of crossing some lines. In the realm of politically-tinged artwork, there's a very fine distinction between satirical and offensive—especially in a town of rambunctious lawmakers, lawmakers' assistants, and, well, people who take themselves and what they do very seriously. And most of that pressure, to get it right, fell on Cassandra Loomis, the artist in charge of wall murals.
Taking a non-partisan approach, Loomis recreated familiar memorials, statues and masterpieces—but with a characteristically witty TJ’s spin. Abe Lincoln is predictably rigid at his memorial, but not so predictable is the stick of butter on his lap. FDR and his dog Fala relax beside a carton of milk at the FDR memorial. And in maybe the most impressive piece, George Washington and his troops valiantly sail across the Delaware River. Upon closer look, the familiar painting is missing the facial expressions of death on revolutionaries—they could have perished that night at the Battle of Trenton! Instead, they’re boozing with none other than "Two Buck Chuck"—the Charles Shaw brand wine that made a buzz four years ago when TJ's started selling it in its West Coast stores for a mere $1.99 per bottle. In these parts, it's more accurately nicknamed "Three Buck Chuck," what with its $2.99 price tag.
The four artists work in a cramped, in-house “studio," which is hidden behind boxes of Chuck in the garage near the loading dock zone. Inside, 30-something Joe Mauro, a graphic designer from New York, heads the 3-D signage effort. He goes through oil-based paint pens like we go through pita chips. Look above the refrigerated cheeses and meats for his Victorian-style city scene. Townspeople and their carriages, circa late-1800s, think up wacky thought-bubbles. One proclaims, “junk in ye old trunk.” In order to ensure freshness, Mauro treats the characters as if they were paper dolls. Their garb will change by season, and their chit-chat by his mood. Like the other TJ’s artists, he's all about the shock value. If the cult following is going to drop in regularly, let them be entertained.
This week, instead of creating spinach propoganda, the four artists designed original kosher labels. The “K," enclosed by a Star-of-David, identifies everything following the rabbinic dietary laws, from loaves of challah to breaded chickenless nuggets. Soon, the team will figure out what to do with negative space on protruding blank columns. Loomis predicts more statue replicas. Perhaps GWU’s landmark statue. Or the hippo one at Foggy Bottom.
Their style is not about perfection—notice the pencil marks and imperfect “just etched” quality. Faces of presidents resemble architectural drafts. Though each brushstroke is unique, the overall Trader Joe's style has sarcastic, silly undertones with an approachable children’s book quality. It unites rich history with contemporary flair, cosmopolitan with the rustic. Each day, new products demand original labels. Chalkboard ads fade. Rotating samples need replacement signs. Admit it—this is the booth you should have visited at Career Day.