‘octopus dance’ - QT Hotel MURAL

MuralsCommercial

9 Feb

A MURAL FOR GOWINGS BAR & GRILL @ QT HOTEL SYDNEY

Every mural is unique and the process of design explores connections between place, people and function. The mural for Gowings Bar & Grill was for a dark entry space linking the QT lobby and the restaurant. I felt that a darkly luminous painting would accentuate the qualities of the entrance.

Using the menu as a starting point, the narrative of the mural was created from select ingredients - in particular the Abrolhos Octopus. These Abrolhos Islands have been the scene of many shipwrecks and dire events. I chose to paint the giant octopus in the mural, because it’s such a fascinating and mysterious creature, harbouring its own darkness (ink). It’s also a meditation on the connection between eating and death, and for Octopus, mating and death.

A giant ultramarine octopus floats on layers of emerald greens and indigo, built up in washes across the wall to produce an aged fresco-like background, which is overlaid with the black silhouettes of olives, smaller octopi and corals.

I loved painting this work, it gave me scope to create a mural that is painterly and loose, rich in tone and colour, and which adds another layer oto the history of an aged and well loved wall in a heritage building.