MURAL Festival: Club LaCite Gets Pastel Transformation Inspired by ’50s Acapulco
Art direction by Montreal artist Marie-Pier Primeau.
Photograph courtesy of Boris Halas
The pool at Club LaCité is going retro for this year’s MURAL fest. The complex, located on top of the Galeries du Parc commercial centre in Montreal, acts as an urban oasis in a busy neighbourhood mixed with commercial and residential dwellings.
Montreal artist, Marie-Pier Primeau, began the creative process by visiting the pool and surrounding areas trying to understand its essence. The pool itself had a few architectural elements that reminded her of the Art Deco era, including several low concrete walls and sitting areas.
“That was the starting point for my inspiration,” Marie-Pier says. “It gave the opportunity for some colour, pattern and illustration. The pool is divided in two sections and has a bar on the top level, as well as many sitting areas with patio furniture. There were also opportunities for art and colours on other landscape elements such as stairs railing, planters and even a few modern sculptures.”
Going for a fresh and summery vibe, Marie-Pier imagined the concept to be somewhere between the 50’s and today. She took inspiration from mid-century interior design, Art Deco architecture, and vintage postcards from Mexico seaside destinations.
“I pictured people effortlessly sipping on margaritas while wearing their pastel bathing suits, a place to forget about time and space for a while before jumping back into the busyness of their urban lives.”
Given the size of the terrace, Marie-Pier says that the challenge was to create a concept that would transform most of the space while remaining feasible in terms of painting complexity and delays.
The production took about a month and was completed by a team of muralists and painters who carefully painted on the 50+ walls and zones to create a completely new atmosphere for the pool.
MURAL festival runs from August 12th-August 22nd with exhibits available in-person and online. To see their full schedule you can visit here.
