Recent paintings by Tom Maderos – plein air and still life specialist – will fill the interior of 
Gabriella Cafe starting on March 10. The show, which continues through May 5, will show off Maderos’ expressionistic skills with oil on canvas. If Diebenkorn had painted the Santa Cruz coast, the effect might be close to the luscious composition of Maderos’ color-saturated work. (“El View Lodge” shown here.) Like those of the Bay Area school of the 1960s, Maderos’s flat picture plane is rich with sensuous color, unexpected spatiality and the figurative pushed almost to abstraction. Unfussy, almost effortless (at least in appearance) these artworks will keep diners company as they enjoy the edible artwork of chef Sean Baker.
Maderos’ paintings are also available, “to go,” if you get my meaning. I have one of his austere floral studies hanging in my office.
Gabriella Cafe – 910 Cedar Street in downtown Santa Cruz.
