Hot on the heels of its Brisbane The Fantauzzo hotel launch, Accor this week opened the doors to its ninth Art Series hotel, The Adnate. But does its 27 story high rise feature mural stack up against the artist’s best?
According to Accor, the new 250-room CBD Hay Street hotel promises to inspire guests with ‘the art of dreaming big’ with a main exterior façade spray-painted with a multicultural portraiture mega mural by world-renowned Australian street artist, Matt Adnate. Touted as tallest mural in the Southern Hemisphere, the work has been labeled as a new highlight of Perth’s cultural history and community.
The mural, which took Matt one month to complete, features three large-scale portraits – including the face of a Noongar (Aboriginal man) clutching eucalyptus leaves, a young Burmese girl (a similar work by Matt features in the art-savvy regional town of Benalla, Victoria), and a Middle Eastern woman. Two original canvases and up to 650 reproductions of 30 of Matt’s most recognised works from around the world will also adorn the walls and halls of the hotel.
The somewhat elusive Matt Adnate failed to make it to the hotel’s offical media launch, instead reportedly heading to Paris to begin work on another project. Forgoing the opportunity to celebrate the launch of a hotel created in his name, we cannot help but ask the question as to why? Is the hotel concept perhaps a little too uncool and corporate for the artist? Was the mega mural a well financed forced hand of the artist, designed to enhance an otherwise rather bland exterior façade. While the work is of significant quality, we feel its application – centrally positioned upon a pristine new building wall – detracts from the guts and power of what street art conceptually is.
While we may never have the answers, we cannot help but compare the mega mural’s Burmese girl to the more decorated version of the same girl in Benalla, Victoria. In this version the girl is crowned in a gold headdress and stands alone with perhaps more power and emotive strength. It perfectly outlines how the impact Adnate’s work is best displayed in a singular manner. The work is a recent highlight of Benalla’s annual Wall-to-Wall street art festival.
Within the Perth hotel lobby, two original canvases and a large-scale mural above the hotel’s main staircase welcome guests. Adjacent to the hotel, Adnate has also created an edgy 50-metre-long laneway mural of a tattooed and jewellery decorated female featuring astonishing eyelash and lip detail .
Accor explains that The Adnate is the first Art Series hotel dedicated to street art and heralds the arrival of the Art Series brand in Western Australia; and is Australia’s only boutique hotel brand creating art-inspired experiences for guests. While this statement is not completely accurate – with Quest recently hanging over 60 original Aboriginal paintings in its Albury Woolen Mills complex, Essentials certainly admires Accor’s Art Series concept.
If you’re travelling from regional North East Victoria to Perth, Essentials Magazine recommends the friendly services of NE Transfers.
Tel 0455 059 998
netransfers.com.au
The Adnate – Art Series Hotel
900 Hay Street, Perth, WA
Tel 08 6371 1000
artserieshotels.com.au/adnate
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