Ted Gahl defies a definitive style in his eclectic painting practice, rooted in a deep appreciation for art history. His bold mixed-media canvases showcase colored wood and found objects, merging scrawled text and aggressive figuration into compositions that dissolve into pure abstraction. Gahl draws inspiration from diverse influences such as Richard Diebenkorn, Norbert Schwontkowski, Dorothy Iannone, Raoul de Keyser, and Henry Ossawa Tanner. His paintings are neither purely figurative nor abstract, providing honest and romantic portrayals of patterns in the world. Gahl’s works exhibit blown-out lines of shadows, constellations of lichens on aged stone, and quiet descriptions of landscapes. Notably, his renderings are not meticulous, with gestures punctuating unstretched canvas and balancing descriptive strokes with large swaths of darkness. Themes in his art engage with Gustav Klimt’s elongated figures and the shadow shapes painted by Richard Mayhew.