Post-Minimalism, a term coined by the art historian and critic Robert Pincus-Witten, refers to a general reaction by artists in America, beginning in the late 1960s, against Minimalism and its insistence on closed, geometric forms. Minimalist art of the 1960s and 70s sought to make art that eschewed metaphor, political, and social meaning. Purely self-referential, Minimalism aimed to reduce art to a purely aesthetic experience where material and form replaced content. The work pointed only to its own making, materiality, and visual matter.

Abstract Expressionism, the movement against which Minimalists were reacting, was practiced by artists such as Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Robert de Kooning, and Mark Rothko, and was concerned with emotion and gesture. Minimalist artists such as Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, and Agnes Martin, by contrast, sought to remove the hand of the artist and presented objects that used industrial and synthetic materials and the seriality of shapes.

Gonzalez calls up these two art historical movements. True to Minimalism, his paintings are self-referential. Certainly, when observing his works, the viewer is forced first to consider the process of its production and is overwhelmed by its visual field. However, in the tradition of gestural painting, González’ hand is present in the work. The irregularities seem almost primordial and intuitive, and they enliven and free the painting’s surface. In his own words:

As for how I see art making, I think the qualities of one's work depend on several factors other than our intentions, and I also think that walking the line where styles separate is a way to open roads into unexplored territories.

(Teo Gonzalez)

Teo found and developed his signature style at the end of 1990. For more than thirty years, he has relied on the grid as the foundation for all of his work, building layers of carefully plotted individual cells filled with drops of color. The result is a topography of undulating patterns and glistening surfaces. His work is bright, colorful, intense, abstract, and precise. In his paintings, one can also see a link to movements such as Op Art, Pointillism, and Abstraction among others. González’ surface is a testament to his process: a methodical, perhaps painstaking, creation of concentric “stains” repeating themselves across the canvas. The painting becomes its meaning - a treatise on disciplined repetition and the nature of the paint itself. However, despite González’ refusal to ascribe a message to his work, viewers may find a reference to nature in the painting’s undulating membranes and perhaps even to the human body where moving nuclei follow arterial pathways. In his own words:

The current list of public collections for the artist includes: The Museum of Modern Art in New York, NY, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles, CA, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, the Brooklyn Museum in New York, NY, the San Diego Museum of Art in San Diego, CA, The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, the Achenbach Foundation Fine Art Museum in San Francisco, CA, the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, NM, and The Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, FL are just a few notable institutions in the United States. Internationally, the list includes IAACC Museo Pablo Serrano in Zaragoza, Spain, the Borusan Contemporary Museum in Istanbul, Turkey, the Museo de Dibujo de Larrés and Museo de Grabado Contemporaneo de Fuentetodos in Spain.

Additionally, Teo has also exhibitions at the University of Richmond Museums in Richmond, VA, the Colby Museum of Art in Waterville, ME, the Weatherspoon Art Museum at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, NC, and the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery in Nashville, TN. Various foundations and collections such as the Gabarrón Foundation, The Judith Rothschild Foundation, Fifth Floor Foundation, and Thoma Foundation, all based in New York, NY, contribute to the rich art landscape. Other collections include the Circa XX in Madrid, Spain, the Dallas Price in Santa Monica, CA, Fundación JAPS in Mexico City, Mexico, The Progressive Art Collection in Mayfield, OH, The Neiman Marcus Collection in Garden City, NY, Gary Lee & Partners in Chicago, IL, H.R.H. Reema Bint Bandar Al Saud in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Koro Corporation in Bucheon City, South Korea, Liquidity in Okanagan Falls, BC, Canada, Rosewood Sand Hill in Menlo Park, CA, and Stags Leap in Napa, CA.