3 minute read
Martine Castoro and the Art of Intrigue
PHOTO BY KAREN DAY
BY APRIL NEALE
Local artist Martine Castoro is a master of mystery. Her artwork, which appears in Barbacoa, Coa De Jima, and the soon-to-open Coa Del Mar in Eagle is evocative, spirited, and glamorous, showcasing her love of old Hollywood, connection to horses, and the beauty of the California coastline.
Though Martine honed her natural talent in art school, netting a successful career in Los Angeles doing book and album covers, movie posters, and graphic art pieces for the iconic Sunset Boulevard retailer Tower Records, she considers herself an Idaho girl too.
“My family’s had a home in McCall for 50 years. I spent summers and winters in an A-frame up in McCall, but I was born and raised in Los Angeles. I met my second husband, Robert Castoro, and we opened Ti Amo on the Laguna Beach stretch of the PCH,” she said.
After they sold their California venue, the Castoros opened Barbacoa and filled it with Martine’s art. When an electrical fire claimed the restaurant on New Year’s Day in 2010, Martine was devastated.
“The original restaurant was open for two years and it burned down the one day we were closed. I lost 53 paintings and had been preparing for a gallery show, so I kept putting pieces on the walls,” she said.
The fire claimed most of the space, including menus brought from Ti Amo and signed by President Bush, Mick Jagger, Ellen DeGeneres, and others. “Those were irreplaceable. I have just one left that survived,” Martine said.
But the job of an artist is to create, and the show must go on. At the historic Coa De Jima, home to a 3,000 pound metal tree sculpture created by local artist Delia Dante, Martine’s art also fills the walls. There and at each of the restaurants, her sensual portraits and whimsical sculptures pay tribute to the life she has cultivated so richly with details like the Instagram stars of the Barbacoa women’s bathroom and embellished high heels niched into glossy pink onyx walls.
Like Martine, even Barbacoa’s bathroom mirrors, originals from the first restaurant that changed to pink and orange in the fire’s heat, exude mischief. “We added the [fake] peephole in the men’s room that looks into the women’s room; it’s a video that gets naughtier through the night,” she said.
On Barbacoa’s walls, there are portraits of Martine and Robert in a hat and a wig. “He gave me the rose in the portrait because while we were dating, he brought me a white rose every day, and I blew him a kiss,” she explained.
The spirit of playfulness is alive in Coa de Jima too. Martine explains that, like Barbacoa, you must examine the art to figure out which are the men’s and women’s restrooms. She’ll do the same for Coa Del Mar. “Something fabulous but completely different,” she said. “Local artist Filip Vogelpohl is creating a massive chandelier for Del Mar. Our palette will be creams, lots of light, and mother of pearl. No more dark.”
If intrigue is the name of the game, Martine is clearly winning. “There are so many surprises and secrets,” she said.
