Collections & interiors
Site specific installations and art collections developed for restaurants, music venues and hotels
Mural by Andrew Schoultz for The Drake Hotel Underground, 2019
The Underground is a storied live music venue in Toronto. With a delicate hand and a street-art sensibility, LA artist Andrew Schoulz painted a mural with his signature concentric circles, creating an op-art effect well suited to the low light conditions. The patterns, akin to a ripple effect are reminiscent of sound waves. From the center of each peers an eye, like faces in the crowd or the one which gazes out from the US dollar bill.
Mural and painted tabletops by Rajni Perera for Drake Mini Bar, 2018.
This intimate 40-seat bistro was the perfect setting for a solo artist project. Here Toronto-based, Sri Lankan-born Rajni Perera created a mural that wrapped around the main wall of the space inspired by Indian miniatures, embellished photos and black futurism, the image was at one rooted in past, present and future. These themes were extended to the painted table tops, so that rather than simply decor, the artist’s treatment of the restaurant created an immersive experience.
Photo installation by Steven Beckly for Drake Motor Inn, permanent collection.
Inspired by the post cards, snap shots and super-8 movies that memorialized mid-century road trips, the collection at Drake Motor Inn was based in photography. As seen in one of the hotel rooms, Stephen Beckly’s shots combine the warmth of vintage Kodak film with the spontaneity of Instagram. The compositions in each image may have a cool formality, but that is contradicted by installing them directly on the wall, like posters in your teenage bedroom.
Photo Installations by Steven Beckly and Roxana Azar for Drake Motor Inn, permanent collection
Large windows separated the washrooms in each hotel room, rather than simply frosting them for privacy, Nielsen incorporated them into the art program. Philadelphia-based artist Roxana Azar was brought on to create photo collages that mixed landscape imagery with Memphis Group inspired graphic elements. Enlarged and installed on the glass partitions, they took on an effect akin to post-modern stained glass.
Mural by Alex McLeod (left) for The Drake Commissary
This former factory building had been home to various industries and later as a rave spot and artist’s studios. When the Drake took over the space in 2017 to house a commissary kitchen, restaurant and lounge, the art collection needed to address the ever-evolving urban identity with an eye on the future. Digital artist, Alex McLeod created a mural stretching over 40ft long. Cinematic in scope, the piece pans from a futuristic urban night scape to a sci-fi inspired rural landscape in the light of day. The shifting views of the piece became the perfect backdrop to demarcate different zones in the restaurant; with remarkable detail, it offers viewers something new every time.
Mural by Louise Reimer for Drake Hotel Sky Yard, Summer 2018.
With construction starting around the patio, this installation was developed to incorporate the necessary scaffolding and bring it into the space in a welcoming and creative way. Inspired by pueblo architecture and the American south west, Reimer created a composition that grounded the space and set the stage for new decor.
Mural by FAILE for Drake Devonshire, permanent collection.
For the Drake Devonshire, the team restored a century inn, retaining the historic character and expanding the space to add contemporary lounge and restaurant spaces. The art collection was built around three core principles to create ties between the rural, lake-side location and the urban ‘white cube’ experience we often associate with art viewing. Since Prince Edward County is an important area for settlers and the First Nations people who came long before, the first theme was a connection to history. Here, the New York collective FAILE combined mid-century advertising references and a collage aesthetic to create a mural that speaks to the past as much as the present.
Site specific installation by Kirsten Hassenfeld for 2-storey entrance of the Drake Devonshire, permanent collection
Another founding theme of the Devonshire collection references the craft tradition. Rural life is often associated with the hand-made and many of the large installations have these modest references, NYC artist Kirsten Hassenfeld’s work has been described as an ‘extravaganzas of the handmade’ and this piece, in the lobby of the Devonshire is no exception. Stretching more than a story tall, it’s a delicate web of vintage papers, seen from multiple views on two levels, but best caught in the morning light when it glows like a stained glass window.
Jennifer Murphy’s Untitled (Bird), collage of cut paper and thread, permanent collection Drake Devonshire
When building an art collection for a rural inn, one feels compelled to speak to the landscape; with the Devonshire, those references needed to be specific and speak directly to the Prince Edward County location. Situated on a peninsula stretching into Lake Ontario, the area is on an important migratory path with dozens of bird species passing through each spring and fall. Toronto-based artist, Jennifer Murphy brought a unique perspective to this element, not only does she often have birds pictured in her collages, she’s a frequent traveler to the County, incorporating found driftwood, rocks, fossils and other finds into her site specific works.
Site specific installation by Douglas Coupland 2013 and text piece by Micah Lexier (permanent collection), Drake One Fifty in collaboration with designer Martin Brudnizki.
London-based designer Martin Brudnizki brought a clear vision to the Drake One Fifty design. Freely mixing patterns and colours, collapsed the decades of the 20th Century to create space equally rooted in the past, present and future. In collaboration with Nielsen, a series of art works were commissioned to ground the space in culture and reinforce this timeless aesthetic. Internationally renowned artist, Douglas Coupland’s mural married a Lichtenstein-inspired sunset with the barcode pattern commonly found on airport luggage tags. While Micah Lexier’s playful text calls to the design of the space with a bit of automatic poetry and presented in a vintage cursive script. The piece reads: ‘This is a sentence in which extra letters have been added to each word except the longest in order to make each identical’.