DATSUN, Ottawa November 2015
DATSUN Restaurant & Lounge, Ottawa, Canada. November 2015.
LPM Projects has been chosen to curate the selection of artwork for new restaurant & lounge DATSUN,
in Ottawa, Canada. Thank you Executive Chef & Owner Matthew Carmichael.
This also includes custom lighting in the restrooms, by Montreal lighting designer Pierre Lachance.
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THE STORY / text from www.linebox.ca/work/datsun/
After the success of El Camino, Chef Matthew Carmichael approached Linebox to design his second Elgin Street restaurant: Datsun. Having worked with Matt on several previous projects we were excited to work with him again. His creative energym both inside and outside of the kitchen, is infectious & inspiring.
Datsun is directly beside El Camino and the design team was challenged to create a restaurant experience similar to and yet completely different from El Camino. El Camino is dark, raw and industrial. Datsun is light, fresh and polished and approachable.
The interior space of the former nightclub was gutted and stripped back to its structural elements. Concrete walls and columns were sandblasted to reveal their original beauty. A network of mechanical systems and stainless steel equipment were added for a state of the art kitchen.
Like with El Camino, exposing the creation, consumption and celebration of food is primary to the overall design of this restaurant. A long wrapping bar and custom tables create opportunities for various seating configurations and interactions between bartenders and guests. There are even moments where the bartender and guest exchange places; where one dines “behind the bar”.
A delicate palette of aged concrete and modern white walls welcome complimentary layers: light birch wood, antique furniture painted pure primary colours + textural contemporary art pieces. The space is light and pure.
Original artwork, sculpture and plant life blur the lines between interior and exterior spaces. An exterior terrace and standing tables allow casual conversation and dining to take place. Over time an ivy wall will grow and creep its way along the exterior wall.
There’s a take-out window where patrons can sneak a peak at the happenings of the kitchen as they wait for their order.
An experience at Datsun is subtle and satisfying, much like the food Chef Matt creates. The minimal, almost stark space is a stage awaiting interaction and sensation. A space only fully completed when guests, chefs and food are interacting with it. The space and your experience of the space, is completed by the tastes, smells, colours and subtleties of the characters within the space.
About the Artist:
Rowan Corkill’s work is created from a deep ethnological fascination with various cultural religious and occult beliefs, many of which are founded on a cross pollination of reality and fantasy.
The artist uses his practice as a means to explore and examine the endless distortions of reality which the human mind has transformed into fantastical mythologies and ideologies. The similar role of the artist as creator is also questioned with particular interest in how the use of fiction can be used as a tool to acknowledge and question our presence on the planet.
Esotericism & Alchemy have played a significant role in the artist’s current practice, with particular interest in the Great works or philosopher stone. Incorporated stages of this secret process as starting points for his own work, the artist has re-interpreting each stage with his own ideas which often stem from various religious beliefs and cultural folklore.
Within each stage a huge variety of influences and inspirations shape the creative process. Youth subcultures, African art & Voodoo, Occult worship and secret initiations, Catholic art and medieval history are but a few of the ever expanding interests which shape the artists world. These influences merge together to produce works which are both strangely familiar and completely unknown.
Rowan Corkill’s work features many strange and bizarre materials collected from human, animal and plant life, most of which are imbued with strong symbolic references and meanings. These symbolisms are often created out of superstitious and fictitious beliefs which elevate the objects and materials beyond the ‘norms’ of the everyday. Yet the creations of these beliefs are firmly rooted in realism as the core of all things.
The Artist works within varying artistic fields including sculpture, drawings, performance, photography, sound and taxidermy.
NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THESE WORKS.