Cafe Negró Project

Client: Cafe Negró
Location: Shop 2, 728 Darling Street, Rozelle
Media: Mixed

Brief:
“Guys, go crazy on my walls!”  -Sergio

Concept:
A 3-stage artwork composed on-the-fly. Because the commercial space is already operating, the artwork must be in a finished state at the end of each of stage, and can only be worked on after hours.
Customers will become a part of the artworks, witnessing it grow and progress as each stage is completed. The overall project will have a community feel and generate some buzz, which should equate to more customers for the brand new business. To create a point of difference a project such as this one is almost a necessity in the Rozelle/Balmain area where there is an abundance of coffee shops, all in close proximity.
Inspiration is to be drawn from Agentina (Argentine slant on the cafe’s service and culture), Sergio’s son (Zane) and black coffee (negró). The famous Argentine tango will also be an underlying theme that we will express through our expression of ‘stylized movement’ and ‘energy’.
The artwork must be versatile enough so that it can be appreciated from numerous angles. The focus of the artwork is to be the viewable area from the window counter (this is the primary service area), which demands quite a broad composition. There will be more detail and “easter eggs” for customers inside the small shop space, since the viewable area is much more narrow.
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THE BEFORE SHOTS

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STAGE 1: ‘Word’
Night 1, June 18.

We went into attack mode armed with printed references of old typefaces that we felt could relate to mid-70’s Argentina. Materials included a set of 5 various brushes, a tube of acrylic paint and some plastic cups used to dilute the paint to get some crazy drippage. The colours we chose were warm brown tones to represent the colour of a coffee stain. We were inspired by the splats of coffee against the white cupboards that we noticed when we first visited Cafe Negro a week ago. The composition was to be spontaneous and possess the feeling that the walls were painted with black coffee.
Superchef Mitch supplied an awesome late-night feed to keep us energized till the midnight finishline.

Stage 1 ready for public eyes… Sergio and his customers were stoked with the first installment…

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STAGE 2: ‘Machina’
Night 2,  Sunday August 23.

The coffee machine is the life force of this establishment. We felt it was important for it to have some sort of representation in this artwork. It also gives the customers being served at the window counter an abstract view of the ‘machina’. We referenced little details in the coffee machine and applied them to the artwork. Materials used included white acrylic undercoat paint and black marker.