I really love this series of ads for Chart House. I didn’t grow up in California and now that I think about it, I’ve never even stepped foot in a Chart House. From what I gather it’s an upscale chain of seafood restaurants.

These ads harken back to my childhood growing up in the 80s. In retrospect it seems like a significant amount of advertising effort was directed towards discouraging kids from doing drugs. Personally I’m a little more liberal minded, but I can’t fault anyone for spending some hard-earned dollars trying to get people to live healthier lives.

What I love best about these ads are the original Ken Auster artworks. I’ve featured a few of Auster’s paintings on the blog, which you can find here. My personal favorite this Ugg Boots ad. I’m too old and tired to keep track of whether Uggs are considered cool again, or if I should like the ad only in an ironic sense, so all I’ll say is I genuinely love the artwork.

Likewise, this Auster painting of Vince De La Pena captures an action shot in a way that’s unexpectedly lovely. For more on Auster’s artwork, check out his website here.