A Mainstay in the Market
The artist described the mural in an artist statement:
My design was inspired first and foremost by the wealth of pictures and
history that the Fiorella’s were able to provide at numerous meetings. I incorporated that into the design, while taking inspiration from art nouveau poster design from the late 1800s coinciding with the founding of the store.
The founder Luigi Fiorella is featured at the very top and various historical
photos are placed below of the store in different eras. Because the pig outline
is so iconic I wanted to keep it in the design and revamp it as a glass mosaic.
I found this to be appropriate as Mr Fiorella has done stained glass work in
the past and it was a connection that was too good to ignore.
“The pattern in the negative space of the top portion of the design is taken
from the inside of the restaurant It is literally the relief patterns found on the
walls. other items that find their way into the design are the iconic cash
register, the name and font Fiorella are taken from that register and put onto
the design of the pig. There are various silhouettes of hanging sausage to be
found within the design as well.
“The bottom of the design posed a few significant challenges. The first and
most important being that the wall continues into the next door neighbor’s
yard, so it makes sense to design the bottom with a finite end on the left. So I
drew an archway through which we are seeing a more contemporary view of
the Italian market Flanked by cheese, fruit, and fig tree branches representing
Italy. Additionally I wanted to create a unique outline of this archway and I
took inspiration from just about every South Philadelphia living room I’ve
ever been in in my youth. My great aunt still has a hallway with an entrance
shaped like this in her South Philadelphia home. I thought it would be an
accent that could be immediately recognizable to some. It also is reminiscent
of the art nouveau elements above.”