Dave Pollot is a New York based artist known for altered thrift art. He finds unwanted paintings, then paints into them so a familiar piece of pop culture sits inside a classical landscape, still life or seascape without rewriting the original look. The result bridges classic and pop art on a single canvas, which is the short version of why his work travels so well from thrift bins to gallery walls.
How the thrift paintings work
On his About page, Pollot says the practice started in 2012 as a joke with his wife, who loves thrift stores, and quickly became a real question: could he take a piece of unwanted art and, without changing its aesthetic, change its meaning by painting in a bit of pop culture or nostalgia so it feels desirable again. That framing is the whole method. The background stays intact as a period painting. The insertion does the narrative work.
He also writes that each found background forces a new set of technical problems, which keeps him working across styles instead of abandoning unfinished canvases. Later pieces push into more personal themes too, including still lifes where everyday food items stand in for the distractions that pull people away from where they are. The through line is the same: the thrift painting is the frame, and the added figure or object is the story. He describes the viewer exchange as a mirror. He tells his own story in each piece, and the meaning comes back through whoever is looking at it.
Halloween in the thrift frames
That same insert method lands hard for Halloween. On his shop, TGIF VI puts a hockey-masked Friday the 13th figure with a machete into a calm autumn landscape, and the earlier TGIF print does the same joke in a pastoral countryside. Nearby on the catalog, An Excellent Day for an Exorcism drops a horror-movie presence into a domestic kitchen, while Horror Takes a Holiday walks a nightmare figure down a classical street toward the Eiffel Tower. Those are real shop listings, so the seasonal flare comes from work he already sells rather than from a one-off theme.
From found canvases to galleries and a shop
Pollot says his work has landed in galleries, businesses and private collections in all 50 U.S. states and in more than 40 countries. Recent shows listed on his site include the sold-out solo exhibition Imposters at Krause Gallery in New York in 2024. Corporate clients named on the same page include Sony and McDonald's. That range matters less as celebrity name-dropping than as proof the thrift-store joke scaled into a sustained studio practice with a real secondary market for prints.
If you want a current example of the look, his special print release Oil and Water II puts wildstyle graffiti across the sails of a classical sailing ship. The shop catalog keeps that humor going with titles such as What Did You Do, Ray?, Borders (You Shall Not Pass), Turbulence, Fois Gras and the Halloween-leaning TGIF VI. Originals are listed on his Original Paintings page, and signed canvas prints ship from the main Shop.
Shop Dave Pollot prints
- TGIF VI print
- TGIF print
- An Excellent Day for an Exorcism print
- Horror Takes a Holiday print
- What Did You Do, Ray? print
- Browse the full Dave Pollot shop
For more artists who rework familiar images, see Charley Harper at the Cincinnati Art Museum, Lita Albuquerque at Palm Springs Art Museum, John Divola's Sheila, and our best gifts for designers 2026 guide.
Read Dave Pollot's About page · Shop prints · Original paintings · DavePollot.com
