Pastiche Modern Eatery was a great place to be seen Friday night. The dining area was almost full, the bar was standing room only, and the walls were resplendent with colorful paintings and mixed-media such as a 4 1/2-foot-high "Native Figure" made of baling wire and found items such as keys and paper clips.
Gayle Hill was dining with a friend and said "Native Figure" first caught her eye, but she was more interested in the paintings. "I stopped and looked at the art on the way to the ladies' room," the 43-year-old decorator said. "It's really good. If you're talented, this seems to be a really cool way to market yourself."
Pastiche is just one of a growing number of Tucson restaurants where you can buy art along with your meal. It's a win-win. For restaurants, it's instant and ever-changing décor at no cost and sometimes even a little profit. For artists, it provides always essential exposure — and money in their pockets.
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"If you're in a restaurant, often you're seeing an emerging artist," said Julie Sasse, the Tucson Museum of Art's chief curator. "Cafes can offer unique opportunities for them.
"It makes your dining experience unique. It supports the art and enriches your experience," she said.
Michael Kaufman, a 28-year-old painter and sculptor, has paintings at Brooklyn Pizza Co. and Ike's Coffee and Tea on East Speedway. He thinks that art in restaurants targets a different group of people.
"It's a great way to get to a large population like myself who does not go to galleries," Kaufman said. "I started doing it just to get my art out there."
Pat Connors opened Pastiche in March 1998 and always has welcomed artists.
"When you're at a gallery, you walk around and look at the art," he said. "When you're in a restaurant, it's more along the lines of what you'll be doing at home. You have a different perspective — you'll sit and look at it for a long time, you'll see it from different angles, and the lighting here will be similar to what's in your house."
David Adix, 49, coordinates the works by other artists that appear on Pastiche's walls, hanging a new body of work every two or three months.
"The walls are always changing. There's always something interesting and new," said Adix, who aims for a "pastiche" of art that includes paintings, ceramic, collages and stained glass.
He's also a mixed-media artist who often brings in his own creations such as "Native Figures."
"Having had work there has given me a lot of exposure," Adix said. "The nice thing about Pastiche is that it's got a lot of wall space."
Adix lives near the restaurant and eats there about once a week. He said he often sees people get up to look at his art. "If they're there long enough, I'll get up and go over to them."
Many artists are willing to work with potential buyers. And prices often start lower because many restaurant owners take little to no commission off sold pieces. Galleries often take a 50-percent commission.
"We can negotiate prices," said Adix. "I'll often do that if someone really loves a piece of art."
Pastiche takes no commission on any of its pieces, which range from $45 to $2,200.
"We're not in the art business, we're in the restaurant business," said Connors, who appreciates what the art contributes to his business.
"It gives us some flavor, and it changes all the time so it's not boring for our staff or our customers," he said. "It's been wonderful having the flexibility."
Doug Levy of Feast also accepts no commission.
"We're getting free art on our walls — it's the least we can do," said Levy, who doesn't see it as competition with galleries.
"I'm a huge fan of galleries," he said. "You get to see a body of work (in a gallery). What artist can make a living only hanging their stuff in a restaurant?"
Also, galleries have more freedom to show less "family-oriented" material.
"Galleries can show work that's more confrontational," Levy said. "At a restaurant, it's background."
Sasse of the Tucson Museum of Art agreed, and said galleries also offer much more for the artists. "They represent artists like agents."
Alan Monoury started working with local artists soon after taking over Le Delice Bakery and Cafe in December 2006.
Lots of French landscapes and farms grace the walls.
"I was trying to make the ambience a little bit warmer," said the 44-year-old, who currently works with three artists.
"It sends you to some place when you're waiting. It's interesting."
Monoury takes a 20 percent commission. "I don't do this to make money," he said.
Vila Thai Cuisine takes 15 percent, which goes the Vila Art Foundation Gallery, a working gallery that's across the patio from the restaurant.
"We're supporting struggling artists," said Vila Jarrell, who opened the restaurant in November 2006 and the gallery in August. "We're trying to put them on the international map."
Jarrell features one artist "on the brink" of something bigger each month in her restaurant and work by 16 at the gallery, Jarrell said.
December's featured artist is Flora "Layla" Edwards, 64, who creates lithographs, paintings and poetry. She said it can take her "hundreds of hours" to complete a painting.
"I paint like a sculptor," said Edwards, who counts Salvador Dali among the artists she has met in her lifetime. "Wherever I am, I sort of absorb what's around me. I feel like a translator."
Jarrell also has started First Thursday Art Walk, a monthly event where people meet the featured artist and enjoy hors d'oeuvres and wine while checking out the art.
Art is a central theme at Las Candelas Bistro and Banquet at 427 E. Limberlost Drive.
The restaurant creates an "Art Opening and Inspired Dinner," with paired food, wine and music, each time it features a new artist.
This Saturday's dinner, for example, features comfort foods such as chicken noodle soup and a choice of entrees that include buffalo steak and rainbow trout inspired by Dan Enright's Southwestern pastel paintings.
The 51-year-old former drywall finisher started painting last year after losing his mother and sister to cancer.
"I draw from my heart to connect with my family who's gone," Enright said.
He will show about 15 paintings, priced from $115 to $385.
Chris Baldwin, Las Candelas executive chef and curator, introduced the series of art openings a little more than a year ago. But Baldwin started pairing art and cuisine back when he ran the Temple Cafe at the Temple of Music and Art, where the Arizona Theatre Company performs. He'd tailor menus according to what was being performed.
"I find life to be art. I find that food is art," Baldwin said. "The music we choose and the wines that we sell are all geared toward life as art."
Baldwin remembers a couple who celebrated an anniversary at Las Candelas. They returned a number of times and always requested the same table, near a particular piece of art. They eventually bought the piece.
That's one of the benefits to finding art in a restaurant, he said.
"You can live with that art for a while before you buy it," Baldwin said. "You get to see how it feels."
Sasse of the Tucson Museum of Art said she was impressed by restaurants like Las Candelas.
"That's committing to it as an art form," Sasse said. "That makes it an experience."
Brooklyn Pizza Co.
534 N. Fourth Ave., 622-6868.
• Featuring: Paintings range from a glass painting of sunflowers to abstract art. A new show featuring artist Wil Taylor's $60-$80 paintings and screen prints opens with a reception 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Dec. 20.
• What: Getting artwork on Brooklyn's walls isn't complicated: Artists ask, bring in pieces, and owner Tony Vaccaro looks at them and decides.
Current artists include Michael Kaufman, a 28-year-old painter and marble sculptor.
Kaufman works at Ike's Coffee and Tea on East Speedway and is a graduate student at Arizona State University in social work.
"I've been an artist since I was a little boy," said Kaufman, who has had works up at Bentley's, Ike's, Epic Cafe and Che's Lounge.
"I sculpt as realistic as I can. My painting can be described as a quick emotional release that is childlike. All my paintings are very positive."
• Price range: $25-$500.
Vila Thai Cuisine
972 E. University Blvd., 393-3489.
• Featuring: The current art is paintings and lithographs by Layla Edwards.
• What: One artist is featured in the restaurant every month. The next First Thursday Art Walk will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Jan. 8 (because of the holiday). Owner Vila Jarrell duplicated the First Thursday Art Walk from her Seattle restaurant.
"Our location is an advantage," said Jarrell, 38. "We cater to tourists."
At the Vila Art Foundation Gallery across the way, you can sometimes see Edwards finishing her painting of a fellow artist named Mike. He's holding a fox and standing Downtown.
Jarrell's goal is to promote local artists.
"They have no platform to show their work other than a gallery," she said.
• Price range: $350-$1,200.
Le Delice Bakery and Cafe
7245 E. Tanque Verde Road, 290-9714.
• Featuring: Three local artists are featured — Grace Dallanegra, Michael Pasquet and Jean Dundas.
• What: An almost overwhelming number of paintings hangs on the walls.
Dallanegra creates very European oil paintings, such as French landscapes. Pasquet paints large figurative oils, some featuring characters from literature and mythology. Dundas is a colored-pencil artist who creates smaller-scale works that often feature animals.
Owner Alan Monoury said he changes the art every two or three months.
• Price range: $100-$7,000.
Pastiche Modern Eatery
3025 N. Campbell Ave., 325-3333.
• Featuring: David Adix and Barbara Brandel.
• What: A variety of pieces throughout the restaurant, from paintings to collages.
Adix, 49, said he hangs a new body of work every two or three months, although "every week I'm always rearranging stuff."
"The walls are always changing. There's always something interesting and new," Adix said.
Owner Pat Connors agreed.
"It gives us some flavor and it changes all the time so it's not boring for our staff or our customers," he said. "It's been wonderful having the flexibility."
• Price range: $45-$2,200.
Las Candelas Bistro and Banquet
427 E. Limberlost Road, 696-9100.
• Featuring: Pastel painter Dan Enright.
• What: This is Enright's first show, and curator Chris Baldwin couldn't be happier.
"There's something about the new fresh face on an artist that's really fun," said Baldwin, who has held seven shows since the restaurant opened in January 2006.
The 40-year-old also serves as the executive chef and manager of Las Candelas. He will host a three-course dinner at 6 p.m. Saturday that pairs his foods with Enright's art.
Enright's main scenes are horses and cowboys.
"He is a nouveau Southwestern cowboy painter," Baldwin said. "I say that because his work is almost impressionist, and his color palette is Southwest — he used purples and rusts and turquoise."
• Price range: $100-$385.
