Instead of real chips or soda, you can purchase tiny art prints featuring different food items at these unique vending machines across the U.S.

Art Prints at the Push of a Button

Artist Ana Inciardi's vending machine prints feature food items and the tools that are associated with them. Ana Inciardi
Artist Ana Inciardi’s vending machine prints feature food items and the tools that are associated with them; Photo: Ana Inciardi

The idea began in 2023, when artist Ana Inciardi created a short Instagram reel that received over 17 million views. The video features a red box that resembles a bubble gum machine with a sign that reads, “Mini Print Vending Machine.” The video shows Inciardi’s hands putting in four quarters and receiving “1 surprise print”.

Fast forward to today and Inciardi now has at least 50 art print vending machines across the U.S. According to NPR, the artist stated she was inspired to create the machines and prints from childhood memories.

“There was this sticker and tattoo vending machine at a supermarket near where I grew up in Brooklyn at Key Food on Seventh Avenue and Carroll Street,” Inciardi said during a recent visit to one of her machines, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. “All the time as a kid, I would get like a Batman or a Spider-Man tattoo out of that thing. And then I was like, ‘I wonder if I could get one of those to sell my little prints in there.”

 

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Inciardi’s linocut prints are made from carved linoleum and each layer of color is stamped onto the linocut one by one. Her work is primarily inspired by food and items used to make food. For example, some of her prints display overalls worn to pick vegetables.

The vending machines are located in several states including Maine, Portland, and California. Fans of Inciardi will trade her prints, and there is even a subReddit page dedicated to her work. She hopes to eventually expand internationally, but continues to find fulfillment watching people appreciate her prints in the U.S.

“This is my first time at this museum. It’s the first time seeing this vending machine,” Inciardi said while visiting the museum in Washington, D.C. “It’s always really sweet watching people. I always, like, shed a little tear the first time I see it. It’s really cute.”