Paul Catalanotto has 17 years as an artisan plasterer under his belt, and now he’s working as a fine artist, along the lines of Michelangelo… only smoother. Frescoes of a sort, with more polish. He tints his plasters first, then works them into art, meshing the different-colored plasters together to create abstract — but plausibly figurative — paintings. Or frescoes. Or walls, kind of. They’re heavy and substantial and he polishes them till they’re smooth as glass. When you look at them you might see (if you’re me) an impressionistic night scene of the city, as seen from Queens. Or maybe not. That part is up to you.

Paul’s job is to turn plaster into beauty, and you can see what I mean at Dizzy’s on Fifth in Park Slope. They call themselves the finer diner, and that they are. I’ve enjoyed every meal I’ve had there, including a well balanced repast of beer and bacon during happy hour at the bar. Oh yes… baskets of bacon on the house during happy hour. You eat bacon, you get thirsty, you buy more drinks. Everybody wins.

Paul’s work will be up on the walls at the corner of Fifth Ave. and President St. in Park Slope through November 3, courtesy of Spring and Michele at Radar Curatorial.