Colourful and creative, Pharmacy 2 ‘prescribes’ just the perfect dose of taste and style to satiate every foodie’s appetite for great food amidst an imaginative environment.
Prominent English artist, entrepreneur, and art collector, Damien Hirst has recently opened a new restaurant in collaboration with Chef Mark Hix. Whimsically named Pharmacy 2 and located in the heart of the Newport Street Gallery in Vauxhall, London, the restaurant serves traditional British, European and Mediterranean specialities to the Gallery’s visitors during the day, and in the evening after the gallery is closed.
Newport Street Gallery is the realisation of Hirst’s long-term ambition to share his art collection with the public. Entry to the gallery, which is currently showing an exhibition of work by the British abstract painter John Hoyland (1934–2011), is free. While the gallery itself will continue to host exhibitions of other artists’ work, Pharmacy 2 gives visitors the opportunity to view some of Hirst’s own art, which here reflects his interest in science, through medicine and pharmaceuticals.
The restaurant exhibits site-specific work from a number of Hirst’s most iconic series, including the Medicine Cabinets and butterfly Kaleidoscope paintings. It also features etched glass windows depicting DNA strands, marble inlayed flooring and a bar that incorporates a stainless steel and glass vitrine. Individually crafted pill designs are embedded into the marble floor as well as embroidered onto the leather banquettes.
Thanks to a long tradition in the processing of marble and to the use of cutting-edge technologies, leading marble manufacturer Margraf was chosen by the Caruso St John Architects firm to create an extremely original floor for the restaurant. The brief called for a white surface of marble resin, inlaid with 21 large pills, carved using new generation waterjet machinery, finished by hand, and made with 35 types of brightly coloured fine marbles (green, red, yellow, blue, pink, blue, etc.). It is, above all, a spectacular match of workmanship and technology.
On the opening of the restaurant, Hirst commented: “Pharmacy 2 combines two of my greatest passions; art and food. I’ve always loved Mark as a chef and his approach to food, so it’s great we’re working together on this.”
The menu at Pharmacy 2 reflects Hix and Hirst’s shared passion for quality food made from fresh ingredients. Hix added: “Damien and I have been friends for many years, sharing a love of food and art. Damien designed a formaldehyde ‘Cock and Bull’ for my restaurant Tramshed so it makes sense for me to exchange my skills by creating the menus at Pharmacy 2.”
www.damienhirst.com; www.margraf.it; www.pharmacyrestaurant.com
