Unless you have a penchant for steakhouse chains or a vast array of niche knowledge, you probably didn’t know that the Texas Roadhouse murals are unique. Each location has a couple of standard paintings in common, but the rest of the murals depict elements of local life — the area football team, familiar landmarks, community claims-to-fame.
“Sure,” you might be thinking at this point, “Asheville has a Texas Roadhouse. But what does this have to do with us?”
Quite a lot, it turns out. Because the artist who created more than 1,000 of these original works grew up in WNC, graduated from UNC Asheville, and lives here in the city. Meet David Soileau.
Adding style to steakhouses
Soileau’s family settled in Henderson County when he was around six years old. His father was a physicist for GE, but despite Soileau’s own natural propensity for science, he was always drawn to imagery and ended up pursuing a BFA with a concentration in painting from UNC Asheville.
But his place of birth would call him back. After graduating college, Soileau moved back to Lexington, KY — and it was in a downtown studio that he would meet the artist who helped him land the Texas Roadhouse contract.
There are hundreds of Texas Roadhouse locations, spanning 49 states and 10 countries. Each has four or more one-of-a-kind murals. That’s too much art for just one artist, so there are several creatives behind those scenes.
Even after moving back to Asheville around seven years ago, Soileau still works on roughly 40-50 panels per year, of varying substantial sizes. Those are high enough numbers that he can’t travel to study every location, so the company provides a list of basic elements or a scene that represents the community. Then Soileau takes the proverbial reins.
In the Asheville restaurant, you’ll find two of Soileau’s murals; he painted the bears at Chimney Rock and the UNC Asheville cheerleaders. There are quite a few sports- and celebrity-based murals in various Roadhouse locations (like Little Richard in the restaurant in Macon, GA), but the company steers away from those nowadays because of licensing complications. Even so, each mural works to capture a community spirit.
“We try to be as creative as we can,” he says. “And we have a lot of freedom, in terms of style.”
Unchained creativity
Stylistically, Soileau’s work is diverse. Although the Texas Roadhouse contract takes up a great deal of time, the artist also works on commissions, large-scale projects, and art just for himself. He paints pet portraits, as well as unusual and highly symbolic arrangements. He’s also the artist behind the Hendersonville Police Department mural, in memory of a fallen officer.
“I’d like to be able to give some focus to more personal stuff,” says Soileau, “but I’ll work with Roadhouse as long as I can.”
