Roadside American architecture, from food outlets to junkyards, has long inspired art, be it music, literature, paintings or movies.
New England-domiciled artist Bob Lavoie continues that creative thread with his vibrant paintings of diners, stores, wrecking yards and chromed 1950s classic cars.
Bob grew up in Swansea, MA, and among his early automotive experiences was his father’s 1958 Plymouth Fury.
“It was two-tone blue with those beautiful fins,” he recalls. “Seeing one at our local ‘cars and coffee’ events always brings back memories.”
The graphically depicted period-style neon sign outside West Side Diner in Providence, Rhode Island, is a more modern addition to the 1947 structure
Such nostalgia has inspired a series of paintings of American classic cars, including bold studies of dazzling Cadillacs and Chevrolets against dramatic backgrounds.
Bob’s parents were not artistic, but he remembers that his mother enjoyed drawing to please her young son.
At school, seeing his illustrations pinned up in the art room encouraged Bob’s creativity.
That talent led him to a career in design, including at Hasbro toys where Bob worked on classics such as GI Joe and Transformers, before starting his own studio.
Bob has always painted, but it wasn’t until 2010 that he really focused on fine art.
Bob Lavoie’s remarkable photorealism is demonstrated in this painting of Ogie’s in Rhode Island
He specialises in oils, his favourite medium, which he discovered on a summer art scholarship.
“I knew then that was what I wanted to do,” he says. “Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks was an early influence, while the photorealist Richard Estes and classic American illustrators, particularly Howard Pyle and JC Leyendecker, all inspired me.”
After moving to Rhode Island, Bob’s works featured local fishing boats and street scenes discovered when visiting New York.
He says: “I always loved painting signage and chrome reflections, and that’s what drew me to diners. Old car junkyards are another vanishing feature I have tried to record.”
The Miss Lorraine Diner, a restored 1941 Worcester Streamliner dining car in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, having been relocated from Hartford, Connecticut
Bob still seeks out interesting diner designs.
“My local favourite is the Modern Diner in Pawtucket,” he says. “It’s a Sterling Streamliner built in the late ’30s.
“I love the simplicity of the shape, its chrome and wonderful colours. Many have disappeared; I’d love to do a cross-country road trip and search out survivors in the Midwest.”
Bob also has a lifelong passion for Formula One racing.
Inspired by a Maserati 250F he saw at the Audrain Auto Museum, Bob has recently finished two paintings of the Trident-badged beauty.
This Bob Lavoie artwork celebrates the sign atop Zip’s Diner in Dayville, Connecticut – the sign is now a landmark that’s well known to locals
Throughout the 1960s and ’70s, Bob was a regular at Watkins Glen, attending 15 Grands Prix before it ended in 1981.
“I have always been a bit of an Anglophile and rooted for Graham Hill,” he confesses. “I was also lucky to see Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart race.
“Road trips to the Glen were autumn weekend highlights, first camping and then with motorhomes. My wife always enjoyed doing the lap chart.”
In recent years Bob has attended the Canadian and United States Grands Prix to support Lewis Hamilton, but none matches the memories of Watkins Glen.
A determination to experience a single-seater led to Bob enlisting at the Jim Russell Racing School at Mont Tremblant.
He says: “Driving a Formula Ford around that great track for a few days back in 1979 was a fantastic experience.”
For more, see boblavoiefineart.com or follow @boblavoiefineart on Instagram
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Motoring art: Jeremy Dickinson
Mick Walsh is Classic & Sports Car’s International Editor