Interior Designer Thomas Schoos Brings Art Outdoors for New Brian Malarkey Restaurant
West Hollywood, California (PRWEB) October 26, 2013 -- Having already created a series of huge paintings for five restaurants by celebrity chef Brian Malarkey of “Top Chef” and “The Taste”, designer Thomas Schoos decided something special was needed for the new Searsucker Restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona. Until now, the artwork has consisted mostly of large-scale paintings measuring up to 16 feet long with four to five paintings per restaurant. The paintings all feature the subject of food, executed in a modernist style and with a whimsical sense of humor.
With the new installation in Scottsdale, Schoos moves from painting to sculpture, taking the theme of his paintings outdoors and into the third dimension, again employing his whimsical and colorful approach. The five life-sized animals, including a cow, a bull, a pig, a goat and a sheep, stand in planter boxes around the exterior of the restaurant, the planters framing the animals in rectangular shapes, much like the rectangular canvases inside which also feature farm animals. Maintaining consistency with his first paintings for Searsucker in San Diego, Schoos paints the animals bright colors in geometric divisions and with his trademark dribbling of black and white paint in abstract patterns. Schoos’ sense of humor is brought out by the irony of a sheep wearing a sweater vest, a goat wearing a saddle, a bull wearing a V-neck and the incongruence of a pink pig with a blue head.
Asked why he wanted to add sculpture to his food art repertoire, Schoos says it is the logical extension of his playful approach and the next step in drawing guests into the restaurant experience. “People feel drawn to it,” explains Schoos, who notes that people in Scottsdale are already going out of their way to have their pictures taken with the amusing and festive creatures. “They’re fun and they’re interactive. People like art they can touch and that’s not too serious. Plus, it adds a lot of color to the desert landscape.” The art pieces also bring the restaurant’s artistic theme outdoors where it can be seen from the street, enticing visitors to investigate the art and the restaurant itself.
In painting the cow sculpture, Schoos refers back to his first painting for Searsucker in San Diego, which featured a cow, an “equals” sign and a steak, as if to say “Cow equals meat.” The Scottsdale cow is divided into three sections of red, black and white, which is the color scheme used in the first cow painting. In addition, the word “Eat,” plastered onto the cow in large black letters, is a theme that makes its way into many of Malarkey’s restaurants, and is most prominently displayed in a vintage-inspired sign above Searsucker Scottsdale’s open kitchen; typical of those one might see along highways in the American Midwest with the single word “Eat” advertising roadside diners or truck stops. This is an especially fitting reference for all the Searsucker restaurants, which are inspired by mid-century Americana and themes of the American west.
Although Schoos is best known as a hospitality designer, his career began as an artist and sculptor and his career as an artist continues today with works exhibited in private homes, public spaces and galleries in Europe, the U.S. and Asia. The whimsical modern approach of his Searsucker series is only one of his primary styles, which also include more abstract work and themes ranging from African tribal art to landscapes.
About Thomas Schoos
Thomas Schoos is known as designer of some of the most successful hospitality venues in the U.S., ranging from Tao Restaurant and Nightclub at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, which has been the top-grossing restaurant in the U.S. every year since it opened in 2005, to Searsucker in San Diego, voted by Open Table as the second most popular restaurant in the country in 2011. Schoos has partnered with celebrity chefs like Iron Chef Morimoto and The Taste’s Brian Malarkey to design numerous restaurants in many cities, with dozens more planned. Last year, his design for Morimoto Mexico City was named one of two finalists in the Hospitality Design Awards for Fine Dining. When he is not working – or even when he is! -- Thomas loves to travel and collect treasures from around the world for use in his own artwork, for design projects, or to sell. Schoos original designs and collectibles may be purchased in his showroom in West Hollywood, Schoos Night, or at schoosonlineshop.com.
For more information on Schoos products and designs, to acquire high resolution photos, or to interview Thomas Schoos, please contact the Schoos PR department by email at pr(at)schoos(dot)com, or call Matthew Hutchison at 323-822-2800. Information is also available on the Schoos Design website at http://www.schoos.com.
Matthew Hutchison, Schoos Design, Inc., http://www.schoos.com, +1 (323) 822-2800, [email protected]
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