Ted Gahl

Ted Gahl's paintings ambitiously explore the territory between the extremes of figuration and abstraction. His paintings are often overcast both in mood and hue—the artist is particularly fond of working at night—though they are occasionally punctured by flashes of bright color, sometimes even literally: Gahl pierces his canvases with protruding painted spikes or outside objects. The artist once remarked in an interview that he doesn't believe "that genuine abstraction is possible without the concrete, the ordinary, and the figurative." Even when discernable, however, Gahl's figures and solidified shapes always threaten to dissolve back into the gloomy clouds from which they emerged.

Gahl’s recent group shows include Zach Feuer, Suzanne Geiss Company, Night gallery, and ZieherSmith & Horton, New York. Along with artists Gregory Kalliche and Benjamin Niznik, he is a co-founder of the collective PAT (Place and Time). Gahl lives and works in Connecticut.