MOST trips to the restaurant bathroom are spent aimlessly scrolling through social media or staring blankly at the back of a cubicle door.
The last thing you would expect is to be surrounded by the eye-popping work of one of Newcastle's most exciting artists.
But that's exactly what is on display in the bathroom of New Lambton's Mediterranean restaurant, Article 24 - which derives its name from a passage in the Declaration of Human Rights stating "everyone has the right to rest and leisure".
A few weeks ago, artist Trevor Dickinson - a New Lambton resident of almost 20 years - was enjoying a meal at the restaurant.
"I went to the toilet and saw that it was just completely bare," Mr Dickinson said.
"After a couple of drinks I suggested to the owner that I'd like to hang a few pieces in there.
"I knew it had been a pretty tough time for hospitality and thought it might be a good point of difference - a bit of publicity for the both of us."
Restaurant owner Matt Newcombe admitted to the Newcastle Herald that he "didn't really know" who Mr Dickinson was when he made the offer.
"I came home and was telling my family about it and turns out my daughter had studied Trevor at school so she told me he was a pretty big deal," Mr Newcombe said.
"The toilet was a bit of a blank canvas so he hung one of the works up a while ago then recently did the rest. It looks bloody fantastic."
Mr Newcombe said that after the 10 months it took to get the restaurant ready, the past year had had its ups and downs.
"Believe it or not we didn't plan for global pandemic in the risk assessment," he said. "During the first wave I was still fitting the place out so was watching my capacity numbers drop."
While he says business went "gangbusters" between lockdowns, numbers still haven't caught up again due to Omicron.
But Mr Newcombe said the New Lambton locals and businesses stick together and love to see new initiatives in the area.
"I started selling vouchers at around Christmas and sold about $4000 worth. Around $300 of that was written out to me so people were basically just making straight donations which is amazing to see."
Mr Dickinson said he likes the idea of people "really getting to spend time" with the artworks and appreciate them in peace.
"There are 15 pieces in there and around half of them are of New Lambton," he said.
"It is good to be able to show images that would usually just be for myself or end up in a collection.
"Its a bit of fun and it's something weird but hopefully if people like it they will come and try some incredible food and buy one of my books while they are there.
"It will also be good when I start getting some feedback beyond the cheesy toilet puns on my social media."
