Gerardo Jimenez, organic farmer-turned-painter, presents a unique perspective on the pleasures of dining out and recasts the classic tablescape genre, made famous by painters like Claude Monet and Henri Matisse, to show present day restaurant scenes. By painting the fleeting moments he was privileged to see, at the odd hours when he personally delivered farm produce to his chef clients, Jimenez attempts to capture the behind-the-scenes magic of running a restaurant. In doing so, he channels the beauty and authenticity of the chef’s vision, perhaps at its purest, before customers, and even the food, overshadow the experience. Through his art, Jimenez pays homage to restaurateurs as tastemakers, influencing not only our gastronomic delights but also our aesthetic sensibilities through the world view presented in their dining spaces. “I started to notice, and look out for, their particular interests, their signature, in terms of the look of their establishments, aside from the character of their food,” recalls Jimenez.  “I started to think in this way when I was getting back into my painting.”

For Jimenez, cafes and bistros are stage sets designed to provide us quick escape, with décor details often hand-picked by the chef to elicit an emotional connection, a sense of story, a platform for intimate encounters. They are, therefore, more captivating to him than the landscapes his own farm offers. Perhaps because of his experience in campus theater when he was in high school, the composition of his paintings are like intimate theater scenes, playing with foreground and background by casting multiple sources of natural and artificial light. “As I was getting deeper and deeper into my art, the more I realized  how these restaurants had different looks at different times of the day,” Jimenez explains. “As the sun moved, and as the restaurants changed their lighting. I found it very interesting and challenging to portray the effect of lighting on the different parts of the restaurant.  It seemed as if so many parts of the restaurants , even the hidden corners , could be interesting subjects for paintings.”

On a deeper level, the subject of his paintings is not so much about the restaurant setting as it is about the moment—the slice of time—he chooses to portray. His compositions are attempts to seize the ephemeral by seeming to hold on to the precious few seconds before the predictable happens: before a guest arrives or before the food is served. We see water goblets glisten in the dimming afternoon sun, waiting for the evening crowd to file in. We are shown long-stemmed gladiolas in twin clear vases flanking a bare service table, stage-ready for the parade of dishes to come. In another painting, a bold red plate declares the feast at hand, but holds back for just a bit more to savor the quiet drama of anticipation. And a solo cup of latte is in pregnant pause on a paper placemat, awaiting the other end of the conversation to arrive at last. It’s as if by suspending time, through watercolor brush strokes that allow colors to flow and rift toward each other, Jimenez uncovers the mysterious beauty of time fleeting by.