Gunnar Theel

Over the course of his 40-year career German-American artist, Gunnar Theel, has created a rich body of work largely comprised of painting and sculpture. Strongly influenced by the sparsity of the Minimalist and Bauhaus movements, Theel’s sculptures reflect an emphasis on simple geometric compositions which bring the piece’s foundational elements of geometry, color, and materiality to the forefront. In contrast to his solid, masculine sculptures which explore form, line, and the nature of the specific materials he uses, Theel’s paintings are a frenzy of color. Ranging from large, aggressively brushy, abstract color fields, to delicately jumbled multi-colored geometric fragments, to neatly organized lines of controlled brushwork, the artists both explore the nature of the materials he employs as well as the interplay of color.

Regardless of the medium, Theel’s objective is to evoke an emotional response in the viewer. His abstract compositions negate a particular narrative or philosophy and instead coax viewers to simply react to the composition.

Gunnar Theel is widely exhibited and has works in the permanent collections of institutions such as the MET and MOCA Jacksonville.