The Restaurant as Muse
Julie Mautner
Posted: June 8, 2009
MILWAUKEE—Ralph Selensky, dining room manager at Sanford restaurant, is also a highly accomplished painter whose favorite subject is restaurants. But it's not luscious plates of food or gorgeous decor that inspires him; he finds beauty and poetry in the thousands of tiny movements that go into the preparation and service of a fine meal: a sous chef chopping herbs, a sommelier drying stemware. Even something as mundane as a cook peering into the walk-in or stretching a sheet of cling film moves him to grab his camera, freeze the image on film, and later, using time-consuming and complex techniques, recapture the moment on canvas. "There's so much beauty in the routine," he says simply.
Born and raised in Milwaukee, Selensky first met Sanford chef/owner Sandy D'Amato while working at the local restaurant John Byron's in 1981. When D'Amato opened Sanford eight years later, Selensky went with him. Today, the four-star Sanford is considered the best restaurant in town and among the finest in the Midwest: it made Zagat's Top 10 Nationwide in 2008.
When the crew at Sanford shuts down for the evening and heads home, Selensky often goes to his studio and works through the night. Visit him there, and you'll see myriad paintings in various states of completion: they're standing on easels, leaning against walls, lying flat in sliding drawers. And virtually all depict some aspect of food prep or service. He works on multiple paintings at once, for months and even years.
The process usually begins with photography, and years ago the crew at Sanford accepted that Selensky and his camera would be a constant presence in their kitchen, before, during, and after service. "I love the immediacy of the camera," he says. "The images I take seem to be part of a story, a narrative, but that's not what interests me. My inspiration is in the composition. I tell a story through light, line, and color."
When he captures an image he loves, Selensky enlarges it, living with it for a while before translating it into paint. He starts with a simple pencil drawing on canvas, underpaints in grisaille, layers in the color, and finishes by painting it over many times with transparent oil glazes. "I paint it again and again, adding a different visual emphasis with each layer," he says. The results are complex, graceful, and sometimes haunting compositions with melting lines, translucent colors, and luminous grays and whites.
Through exhibitions and press, Selensky's work has begun to attract national attention, and he accepts the occasional commission, depending on how much time and travel are involved. But passionate as he is about his art, he has no immediate plans to give up his day job. "Painting full-time would be wonderful," he says, "but I'd lose the thing that drives and inspires me."
Paintings and archival-quality prints are available directly from the artist. For info: http://rmselensky.googlepages.com; rmselensky@aol.com; (414) 483-9325.
