more on restaurant art islington zone

the islington masala zone sets a new standard for restaurant design. it features stunningly coloured murals from the two painters from gond, a forested area of madhya pradesh, a not very well known part of indias heartland.

the murals in islington zone detail the creation myth of the culture of their native village, in which a heavenly bird mates with an earthly creature, producing the gods as well as humans and animals with fabulous combinations, such as ganeshas elephant head joined to the body of a crab. symbols are the cornerstone of gond art and every symbol is a story standing in for something else. in the gond tradition, each artist uses similar, traditional symbols but develops his or her own decorative patterning, which is as unique as a signature.

the two painters baju and ram belong to the the jangarh school (named for jangarh singh shyam, its tragic best known painter, who was kept a virtual prisoner in japan by an impassioned, but over-enthusiastic collector and committed suicide). bhaju and ram were flown to london specially to paint the walls of islington zone.