The Peas That We Freeze Here

Frank Soltesz

Today’s Inspiration: Fresh Frozen Frank Soltesz

Since childhood I’ve loved diagrams and models of complex buildings, like factories. My favorite Babar book was Babar and Father Christmas, in which Babar falls through a ski slope into a 2-D subterranean complex resembling the first version of Metroid. These Soltesz illustrations, courtesy of Today’s Inspiration, are just my sort of thing.

I can vouch three months’ seasonal night shift labor that in 1995, a frozen food plant still looked like this, right down to the conveyor belts on which flash-frozen peas rolled without end. We tried to stay awake by adapting camp songs to the tedium (The peas that we freeze here/they say they’re mighty fine. . . ) Frankly, the job sucked. But in this illustration, pea-freezing looks almost interesting. That’s the magic of art.