First it was the walls of Thiruvananthapuram that got a dash of high art. Now, restaurants in city have become canvases to display colourful works of art. Once featureless or wallpapered, walls of restaurants nowadays have one-of-a-kind paintings, mural art, trendy poster art, bold graffiti, installations and even dramatic pencil sketches and chalk art.
Right from when Streat opened its doors on MG Road, for example, the café’s wall art got as much attention as its street food-with-a-twist menu. On its walls are portraits of film stars in the garb of their iconic characters: Mohanlal in Spadikam , Nivin Pauly’s bearded look in Premam , DQ in and as Charlie and so on, apart from graffiti and doodle art on its exterior walls.
Thamarassery Churam in Medical College, also pays tribute to Malayalam cinema, this time with quirky poster art of popular scenes and dialogues. Laugh out loud with ‘Taski’, ‘Savari giri giri’, ‘Sense venam…,’ ‘Kambiliputhappu’ and so on.
Over at Madras Tiffin Centre in Devaswom Board junction, there’s a mural inspired by the sights and sounds of Chennai, featuring AVM studios, Rajinikanth, temples and the like, in pops of colour that tie in with its interiors.
Chalk-art inspired art at O’roti
In O’roti in Kuravankonam, meanwhile, it’s all about chalk art of mocktails and Malabar lingo, pictographs and dishes. At Truffles Bistro, also in Kuravankonam, an entire wall is covered with a stylish painting of a Tree of Life.
The mural of the dancers at Villa Maya
Even fine dining restaurant Villa Maya, located in a grand mansion in West Fort, is in on art (the first to do so, in fact). It has not one but three different kinds of art on its walls – a charcoal sketch that covers the lobby of the main building, a monochrome mural of three dancing women and another one of lotuses and lilies.
Charcoal sketch of foliage at Villa Maya
Almost all of the wall art reflects the theme of the restaurant in question. Villa Maya’s subtly displays different aspects of the restaurant and the space itself. “The charcoal art is a nod to Kerala, with its ferns, vines, creepers and rubber trees. The dancing women represent the culture-rich past of Aramana Ammaveedu and erstwhile Travancore and the flower mural ties the outdoor ambience with the indoor one,” explains Shashi Jacob, vice president, Muthoot Skychef that runs the restaurant.
On the other hand, Streat’s art works shout out the street-eat theme of the café. “What better way to represent it than through graffiti, movies and movie posters, which adorn just about every street in Kerala?” asks Jithin Lal, one of the owners.
If you are a movie buff you would know the significance of Thamarassery Churam to Malayalam cinema (Hint: Kuthiravattam Pappu’s famous dialogues a la Vellanakalude Naadu and T.P. Balagopalan M.A. ). “Also, given that it’s a Malabar restaurant, the name is kind of apt as Thamarassery is bang in the middle of Malabar country,” says Liju, one of the original partners of the joint. “The décor’s a huge hit with customers, who always enjoy voicing the dialogues or playing guessing games with each other. When the art work in a restaurant is unique and different, people start talking about it, resulting in more footfall to the joint,” he adds.
Some restaurateurs freely admit that high art on their walls is but a coincidence, “a happy outcome” of limited budgets and the dream to do something different.
Art work at Truffles bistro, painted done by Pavi Sankar S.
Says Arjun Nair of Truffles: “When we started, we had very little money to spare for décor. Getting a wall painting done would instantly solve the issue and we’d end up with a unique-looking space too. We got the idea for wall art from seeing the ones at the now defunct Nirvana café. We roped in city-based artist Pavi Sankar S. He completed the mural in a couple of hours and Voila! We had a brand new look.”
To save on expenses, Shahnavas A.H. of O’Roti himself came up with the wall art, executed through a couple of local painters. “I searched extensively online until I found each design that I wanted, be it a font to spell kozhi nirachathu or a pictograph of a chirava . The end result may look like chalk art but it’s actually acrylics on matte black background and it took three days to complete,” he explains.
Similarly, most of the art work appears to have been done (or ideated) by the owners themselves, their friends or acquaintances, with the occasional commissioned work too.
If the décor at Thamarassery Churam was the brainchild of NIFT graduate Alka Narayan, a friend of the owners, graffiti at Streat was done by students of NIFT, Kannur, again friends of the owners and the portraits were spray-painted on (mostly) steel roofing sheets by architect Jayakrishnan R.J., a partner in the venture.
The interior of Hangout, a multi-cuisine restaurant in Kesavadasapuram, was designed by a few (then) architecture students of the College of Engineering, one of whom was the owner, Vivek K.J.’s cousin.
Says Pavi Sankar, who has done the art work for Truffles, Madras Tiffin Centre, Kazhak (pen and ink sketch) and Nirvana (graffiti of Thiruvananthapuram): “Ideally, the design should incorporate elements of the restaurant, the theme, menu and the décor of the rest of the space. As an artist one should keep in mind the size of the wall, the placement of the furniture and lighting too. The idea is that the art work should look unique and classy, without overpowering the space or the food.” Now, that’s food for the soul.
