Artist Lester Carey

Lester Carey next to a hand-painted sign

Lester Carey (1953-2017) was a New Orleans sign artist whose work has been found on churches, corner stores, neighborhood bars, and other commercial buildings around numerous neighborhoods of New Orleans for three decades. His vernacular style has probably graced the wall of a market where you got a shrimp po boy or the wall of a lounge where you popped in to get a cold beer.

After Hurricane Katrina, The Society to Preserve the Art of Lester Carey group was created on Flickr to document Lester’s unique works of commercial folk art.

SPALC can also be found on Facebook.

Photos of Lester’s work are tagged with #LesterCarey on Instagram.


© 2021
Anthony DelRosario, NOLA ‘Nacular