Even amid COVID-19, the artist residency program at the LINE Austin is fostering a cycle of creativity that brings new life to the hotel’s interiors. The current resident, locally based painter Manik Raj Nakra, reinterprets the iconography and folklore of early civilization through a contemporary lens. Employing themes of egoism, lust, and self-doubt alongside post-colonial anachronisms, Nakra’s artwork is defined by bold colorways that echo the sensibilities of Pop Art in a stark fashion. He works publicly in the hotel lobby for two hours twice a week—every Wednesday and Thursday—and his pieces are also on display in the hotel’s East Gallery.
The LINE Austin has also introduced a new workspace concept, which allows visitors to book a transformed studio suite that can accommodate up to six people for private office use. Suites have been overhauled to aptly serve as a remote office complete with a Zoom-enabled TV and ample desk space. Additionally, the hotel’s sister property, the LINE LA, is offering their spacious, light-filled guestrooms up as rentable office space, too.
