Behind the Art: Bar Planet’s Terrazzo Wonderland
Meet the iconic duo behind Bar Planet’s cosmic terrazzo bar tops - David Humphries and Masou Nodoust - better known as Public Art Squad.
If you’ve enjoyed a martini at Bar Planet before, you’ve undoubtedly been engrossed in the psychedelic wonderland that permeates the space. Public Art Squad have been making inimitable public art installations in Sydney, and around the world, longer than many of us have been able to recite the alphabet.
Some of their most recognisable works can be found throughout NSW (shout out Warringah Mall), (oh and the house near the Spit Bridge that looks like a coffee machine, you know the one), you just might not have ever have realised it.
To name drop only a few from their long list over the globe, we’d have to mention the ones that are truly larger than life. The mind-boggling terrazzo Earth floor in St Mary’s Cathedral, the ‘Peace, Justice, Unity Mural’ high above Gadigal Station, The London Fashion and Textile Museum - even Melbourne’s Bourke St Mall is David’s handiwork.
Perhaps the most nostalgic example for us Sydney-siders are the memories we made in Darling Harbour (RIP Sega World) during the 90s at the vibrant Harbourside Shopping Centre, where David served as the Director of Applies and Decorative Arts. Arguably the most iconic shopping centre ever built in our opinion.
Although the magic of David and Masou’s work isn’t felt through the screen you’re looking at right now, you really need to immerse yourself in it to understand the scale, tactility, and how crazy it really is. It’s like a kaleidoscope of never ending details beneath your martini - which David always refers to as the ‘galactic cosmos’ - and honestly, it’s one of the only ways to describe how many layers of detailed chaos actually exist. They take the bar tops to a whole other level.
When we first met David and Masou in their studio, we saw terrazzo works that not only featured traditional stone and earth, but items of obscurity from around the world; slabs of cobalt blue glass collected in the 70s, sea shells from various tropical coastlines, ornamental jellyfish totems, even hyper-chromatic clumps of surfboard resin make the cut. Our favourite has got to be the bootleg Rolex set in to their very own terrazzo bathroom floor - see below.
The process of making the bar top is pretty incredible. Every element is created for the sake; it’s placed, tweaked, re-placed, tweaked again, and on it goes until it feels right. Even tiny objects within the bar top were artistic side quests for David; the iconic water jet-cut marble eyes, mirror-backed pipes that give the bar top an illusion of infinite depth, even the spattering of Murano glass beads can keep you entertained for hours trying to spot them all.
It’s pretty safe to say Bar Planet revolves around these installations. Nearly every photo, every drink, almost every memory in-venue is backdropped by cosmic splatters. It’s nearly impossible to have a moment without them somewhere or somehow, and we think it makes it a pretty special place to be.
Fine art prints of the Bar Planet terrazzo works are available from Public Art Squad’s website below.
