Theodore Waddell

The work of Theodore (Ted) Waddell draws a deliberate parallel between his subject and abstract art elements. Cattle and horses are motifs arranged formally on the flattened and enveloping painted “ground”, which is characteristic of modernism. While his early works were noted for heavily textured surfaces, Waddell’s recent paintings are more atmospheric, with translucent wax medium layers suggesting the drift of grazing animals, transitions of days, and the movement of seasons.

Waddell grew up in Laurel, Montana, west of Billings. He studied art in New York in 1961-62, and was deeply influenced by the Abstract Expressionists — Franz Kline, Willem DeKooning, Jackson Pollack, Hans Hoffman and others.