Statement

My work explores the evolving language of abstraction through a sustained investigation of color, gesture, and structure. Rooted in both modernist and postmodern traditions, my paintings examine the boundaries of visual perception and the physical presence of paint. Through process-driven methods and intuitive mark-making, I build layered compositions that balance immediacy with careful deliberation.

Color is central to my practice—not just as a formal element but as a means of generating spatial and emotional tension. I often use bold, unexpected palettes to disrupt harmony and provoke a heightened sensory experience. These chromatic decisions are tempered by formal structures: hard edges, organic forms, and ambiguous space interact to create visual complexity and balance.

Each painting is a record of a dialectical process—a back-and-forth between spontaneity and control, the accidental and the intentional. Influenced by German Expressionism, Color Field painting, and contemporary gestural abstraction, I view painting as both an investigation and an assertion. My compositions emerge through layering, erasure, and revision, allowing each work to retain traces of its own evolution.

I draw from a wide range of cultural references, including pop culture, metaphysical symbolism, and art history. These influences inform a practice that is deeply invested in abstraction’s capacity to remain vital and open-ended. I’m not interested in delivering fixed meanings; instead, I aim to create spaces of visual and psychological tension—places where viewers can bring their own interpretations.

My work reflects an ongoing commitment to the possibilities of abstraction and the continued relevance of painting in contemporary discourse.

Bio

Paul Behnke (b. Memphis, TN) is an American painter whose practice is grounded in contemporary abstraction, with a sustained engagement in chromatic intensity, gestural mark-making, and the formal possibilities of non-objective painting. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting from the Memphis College of Art.

Behnke’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions in New York City, Philadelphia, Heidelberg, Saint Augustine, and Memphis, and included in numerous curated group exhibitions in San Francisco, Honolulu, London, Dublin, Glasgow, Paphos, the Netherlands, Cernay-lès-Reims, and New York. His paintings have garnered critical attention in publications such as Hyperallergic Weekend, The New Criterion, and The New Republic, where his work has been situated within ongoing discourses around abstraction and contemporary painterly practice.

In addition to his studio output, Behnke contributes to the field as a writer and editor. His essays and critical reflections have appeared in AbCrit: A Forum for Debate on Abstract Art, Painters’ Table, Gamut, and No. Magazine. He served as co-editor of Shad Runn, an independent art zine based in Memphis, and has maintained Structure and Imagery, a blog dedicated to contemporary painting and visual culture, since 2011. From 2015 to 2017, he co-directed Stout Projects, an artist-run exhibition initiative in Bushwick, Brooklyn, focused on emerging and mid-career artists.

Following a three-year residency in Taos, New Mexico, Behnke currently lives and maintains a studio practice in Memphis, Tennessee.

C.V.

Education

1999
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Memphis College of Art, Memphis, TN

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2023
My Love is Winter Gray: Paintings by Paul Behnke, International Gallery of Contemporary Art, Anchorage, AK
2017
Strange Entities, Gary Giordano Projects, Brooklyn, NY
2016
The Thing I Came For, Kunstraum Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
2013
An Awful Rainbow, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, NY
2012
Like Giants, The Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Selected Group Exhibitions

2025
Cross Currents: New York – London, Helm Contemporary, New York, NY
2024
Something Solid, Marshall Arts, Memphis, TN
It Rose and It Fell, Patchworks, London, UK
2023
Darker Than a Blackbird’s Retina, Calder Art Supplies Studio, Huddersfield, UK
Within You Without You, Prallsville Mills, Stockton, NJ
2022
TAAC Inaugural Exhibition, Stables Gallery, Taos Center for the Arts, Taos, NM
Explosive Abstraction, The Wright Contemporary, Taos, NM
As Seen on the Radio, curated by Graham Dane, International Gallery of Contemporary Art, Anchorage, AK
2021
On the Road: Bill Page and Paul Behnke, the gallery LTD, Brooklyn, NY
2020
Borderwalls II, The Border, Brooklyn, NY
Way Out, La Grange, Cernay-Lès-Reims, France
Grey | Gray (Matter), Divisible Projects, Dayton, OH
नमस्कार/Namaskār, curated by Nehal Devi, Mumbai, India (online)
2019
Tides & Currents, SFA Projects, New York, NY
Ear to the Ground, Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT
25th Anniversary Exhibition, The Painting Center, New York, NY
2018
BIG Holiday Show, LABspace, Hillsdale, NY
Surface and Substance, The Painting Center, New York, NY
2017
Nothing But Good, PARK 138 X, Tilburg, Netherlands
True Believers, Michael David Studio, Brooklyn, NY
Paperworks, Gary Giordano Projects, Brooklyn, NY
Pro Forma: Context and Meaning in Abstraction, Work Release, Norfolk, VA
New New York: Abstract Painting in the 21st Century, The Curator Gallery, New York, NY
ReStatement, Kunstverein Brackenheim, Germany
Steal the Show, Flat 3/2, Glasgow, Scotland
2016
ReStatement, Schmidt und Schütte, Cologne, Germany
An Occasional Dream, Life on Mars, Brooklyn, NY
Drishti: A Concentrated Gaze, 1285 Avenue of the Americas Gallery, New York, NY
If Color Could Kill, Salena Art Gallery, LIU Brooklyn, NY
We Are the Dead, Kirk Hopper Fine Art, Dallas, TX
2015
Occo Socko!, Stout Projects, Brooklyn, NY
New New York, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI
Color as Form/Form as Color, c2c Project Space, San Francisco, CA
Hello Again, Ground Floor Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Thrice Legendary or Forever Then, Centotto, Brooklyn, NY
Made in Paint, Sam and Adele Golden Gallery, New Berlin, NY
2014
Form and Facture: New Painting and Sculpture from New York, Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery, Stony Brook, NY
Eight Painters, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, NY
2013
Temporal Shifts, Flecker Gallery, Suffolk County Community College, Selden, NY
Meta Vista, 16 Wilson, Brooklyn, NY
What I Like About You, Parallel Art Space, Queens, NY
2012
A Web of Artists, Thomas Deans Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
Heroes, A Small Black Door, Queens, NY
The Art is Falling Apart, Terrace Gallery, London, UK
Chromophilia, Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Brucennial, The Bruce High Quality Foundation, New York, NY
2011
Done Paint Done, The Drawers Gallery, London, UK
Faction, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH
Grey Matter, The Painting Center, New York, NY
Process: Abstract Painters, Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
An Exchange with Sol Lewitt, MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA
Summer Invitational, The Hallward, Dublin, Ireland

Awards, Grants, and Residencies
2014
Golden Foundation Residency Program, New Berlin, NY
2008
Vermont Studio Center Residency, Johnson, VT

Press and Media Coverage

2022
TAAC Talk, Virtual Studio Visit
Tempo Magazine, Taos News, cover image, July 20
Gallery and Studio, William Corwin, "Structural Color"
Ahtcast Podcast (2022 episode)
Art Spiel, "Paul Behnke: A Champion of Painting"
2021
Art Matters, Radio Interview
2020
Art Spiel, "Artists on Coping"
2016
Curator Magazine, Interview
2014
Figure / Ground, Interview
Gorky’s Granddaughter, Video Interview
Painters’ Table, "The Ability of Paint"
2013
Hyperallergic, John Yau, "Who’s Afraid of Hot Pink..."
An Awful Rainbow, James Panero
Ahtcast Podcast (2013 episode)
2012
The New Republic, Jed Perl, "The Brucennial"

Publications and Catalogs

2017
Pro Forma, catalog essay by Dr. Vittorio Colaizzi
2016
The Thing I Came For, catalog essay by David Rhodes
2014
Form and Facture, catalog essay by Karen Levitov
Eight Painters, exhibition catalog
2013
An Awful Rainbow, catalog essay by James Panero
2010
Like Giants, catalog essay by John Yau

Visiting Artist, Lecturer, and Panelist

2025
Helm Contemporary, New York, Ny

2018
Trans∙cen∙der Series, Brooklyn, NY
National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland
2017
Work Release, Norfolk, VA
2015
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI
2014
Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, NY
2013
Flecker Gallery, Suffolk County Community College, Selden, NY

Curatorial Projects

2024
Something Solid, Marshall Arts, Memphis, TN
2022
Lauren Dana Smith: Box Breath, The Wright Contemporary, Taos, NM
Ira Wright: Self-Portraits, The Wright Contemporary, Taos, NM
2020
Monklike Habits, Online Project Space (Director/Curator)
2015–2017
Stout Projects, Co-Director, Brooklyn, NY
2014
Eight Painters, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, NY