Inspired by Italy’s art bars of the ’70s and ’80s, sculptor Clementine Keith-Roach and painter Christopher Page created Bar Far in Rome, Italy. The surreal space—featuring plaster-cast body parts emerging from walls, floors, and furniture—invites visitors to have a drink in an eerie, dreamlike world.
Vittoria Bonifati, founder and creative director of the non-profit space Villa Lontana, approached the artists while searching for an imaginative way to introduce the organization’s new home in Trastevere. “We were installing the reliefs and painting the walls when the plasterers were still finishing their work,” she revealed. “Bar Far emerged out of nothing.”
Both Keith-Roach and Page are long-time collaborators, and Bar Far is a brilliant example of the magic they can create together. The space combines elements that evoke ancient Rome with contemporary architecture and flashes of futuristic color. Keith-Roach explains that the surrounding city played a key role in shaping the bar’s concept. She says, “[Rome is] a place where sculpture, painting, and architecture have been fused in really crazy, hallucinatory ways. It can feel quite apocalyptic.”
Keith-Roach’s plaster reliefs depict limbs, hands, and feet emerging from the interior’s clay-like surfaces. The body parts look as though they’re clutching at each other, or physically holding up benches, tables, candles, and other objects in the room, as if the building itself is alive. In visual contrast, Page’s trompe l’oeil murals appear like strange glowing portals. They create the illusion of arched openings and windows, revealing a mesmerizing, lava-like light that draws you in.
The creative duo created a functioning bar that feels like a threshold between the living and the dead. “We see this as an aesthetic investigation into worlds ending and worlds beginning,” says Keith-Roach. “Everything is built from broken fragments—there’s a lure and a horror in that.” To heighten the experience, visitors are invited to sample a carefully chosen lineup of vermouth-based drinks, all in fitting shades of blood-red.
You can visit Bar Far at Trastevere in Rome until March 14, 2026, Wednesday through Saturday from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., or arrange a visit by appointment.
Inspired by the art bars of the past, sculptor Clementine Keith-Roach and painter Christopher Page created Bar Far in Rome, Italy.
The surreal space—featuring plaster-cast body parts emerging from walls, floors, and furniture—invites visitors to have a drink in an eerie, dreamlike world.
The body parts seem to clutch at one another or grip objects in the room, as if the building itself is alive.
Page’s trompe l’oeil murals create the illusion of arched openings and windows, revealing a mesmerizing, lava-like light that draws you in.
Keith-Roach and Page created a functioning bar that feels like a threshold between the living and the dead.
Exhibition information:
Bar Far
December 4, 2025–March 14, 2026
Trastevere
Via Garibaldi 68-69, Rome, Italy
Villa Lontana: Website
Clementine Keith-Roach: Instagram
Christopher Page: Instagram
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Villa Lontana.
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