Gael Mooney is a New York City based artist and member of Bowery Gallery.  Her work draws upon her experiences painting on the premises of a Gothic cathedral in France -- the Saint-Denis Basilica -- where she has been engaged as an artist for many years.  

Drawing and painting directly on the cathedral premises, Mooney's work at the Basilica is focused on capturing the elusive effects of color and light emanating from stained glass as they transform the sculpture and architecture and the metaphor that this process of transformation embodies as stone which is solid is seemingly rendered diaphanous and immaterial.  Mooney observes a similar process of transformation at play in nature engendered by the continual movement of atmosphere and light and its impact on her surroundings.  Her work explores the liminal region between the seen and unseen, opacity and transparency, form and dissolution as light transfigures the everyday to raise our awareness from reality's surface appearance to reveal its inner truth and essence.

Mooney's experiences observing and painting Gothic light over the years have inspired her love of philosophy, theology and spirituality --  subjects with she has taught, lectured on and written about.   Mooney is author of art reviews and scholarly articles exploring the relationship between art, philosophy and religion.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 

  • 2023 Becoming Light:  Gisants and Trees, Bowery Gallery, New York NY

  • 2019 Exposition de Gael Mooney, Basilique de Saint-Denis, Journées Européennes du Patrimoine, Centre des Monuments Nationaux, Saint-Denis, France

  • 2012 La Lumière Gothique et les Gisants :  thème irrésistible pour une peintre américaine, Basilique de Saint-Denis, Journées Européennes du Patrimoine, Centres des Monuments Nationaux, Saint-Denis, France

  • 2008 Saint-Denis and Château Noir, Bowery Gallery, New York NY

  • 2005 Grace Church Paintings, Grace Church, New York NY

  • 2003 Saint-Denis and New York Paintings, Bowery Gallery, New York NY 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

  • 2022 Artists of the Bowery Gallery, Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries, Wright State University, Dayton OH

  • 2020 At Home in the Studio, Bowery Gallery, New York NY

  • 2020 New Bowery Artists, Bowery Gallery, New York NY

  • 2019 Winter Juried Exhibition, Blue Mountain Gallery, Elisa Jensen, Curator, New York NY

  • 2018 Art and Friendship, Green Door Gallery, Fr. Paul Anel, Curator, Brooklyn NY 

  • 2016 Members Show, Bowery Gallery, New York NY

  • 2012 Gallery Artists, Bowery Gallery, New York NY 

  • 2012 Ones, Alumni Exhibition, New York Academy of Art, New York NY 

  • 2010 PAGES: 40th Anniversary Celebration, Bowery Gallery, New York NY

  • 2008 Painting in the Park, Lori Bookstein Fine Art, New York NY

  • 2005 On the Road: Landscapes from Places Near and Far, Marymount College of Fordham University, Tarrytown NY

  • 2005 Members Group Show, Bowery Gallery, New York NY

  • 2004 Epiphanies of Beauty, Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture, University of Notre Dame IN

  • 2004 Members Group Show, Bowery Gallery, New York NY 

  • 2003 Members Group Show, Bowery Gallery, New York NY

  • 2003 Alumni Show, New York Studio School, New York NY

  • 2002 Artists of the Bowery Gallery, MCS Gallery, Easton PA

  • 2002 5 Painters, Bowery Gallery, New York NY

  • 2000 Winter Show, The Painting Center, New York NY

SELECTED ESSAYS BY GAEL MOONEY

  • 2020 "The Quiet Art of Looking:  A Conversation with Richard La Presti and Deborah Rosenthal", Conversations interview series sponsored by Zeuxis: An Association of Still Life Painters, Zeuxis.us

  • 2011 "An Everyday Eternity: A Show of Late Renoir", Artcritical.com

  • 2011 “Georges Rouault: Encountering God’s Beauty Through the Face of the Other”, Violence, Transformation and the Sacred: They Shall Be Called Children of God, College Theology Society Annual Volume 57, Tobias Winright and Margaret Pfeil, ed. Orbis Books, Maryknoll NY

  • 2008 “Hieratic Grandeur: Weightless World, Hidden Order, Magnifying the Modest, 1930- 1943" , Mystic Masque: Semblance and Reality in Georges Rouault, Stephen Schloesser, ed. McMullen, Museum of Art, Boston College, Chestnut Hill MA

  • 2007 "Transforming the Artistic Vocation into a Calling", Doing More With Life: Connecting Christian Higher Education to a Call to Service, Michael R. Miller, ed. Baylor University Press, Waco TX

  • 2004 "Learning from Light: What Painting on the Premises of a Gothic Cathedral Has Taught Me about the Nature of Art, Beauty and Creativity", Epiphanies of Beauty, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN

  • 2003 "Louis Finkelstein: The Late Pastels", Artcritical.com

CONFERENCES & PUBLIC LECTURES

  • 2021 "The Beauty of Contemplative Justice, Simone Weil and Georges Seurat”, American Weil Society, XL Annual Colloquy, Boston College, Boston MA

  • 2020 "When the Personal and the Formal Converge :  The Role of Empathy and Compassion in Art and the Power of the Image”, There Gallery, New York NY

  • 2015 "Matisse and Beyond: Art and Hope”, a lecture by Fr. Paul Anel and Gael Mooney, Bowery Gallery,  New York NY

  • 2015 "Henri Matisse: Art and the Sacred in the Cutouts and Chapel at Vence”, a lecture by Fr. Paul Anel and Gael Mooney, The Catholic Worker Maryhouse, New York NY

  • 2011 "Georges Rouault: Encountering God’s Beauty through the Face of the Other”, College Theology Society Annual Convention,  Iona College, Iona NY 

  • 2011 "George Rouault's Sacramental Vision of Divine Love and Human Suffering”, Dominican University, River Forest IL 

  • 2010 "Rouault's Clowns as Models of Truth, Beauty and Grandeur”, Caritas et Veritas Symposium, Dominican University, River Forest IL

  • 2010 "The Wounded Clown: Beauty and Social Justice in Georges Rouault”, Maryhouse, The Catholic Worker, New York NY 

  • 2005 "When Does the Artistic Vocation Become a Calling?”, The Callings Conference,  Mount St. Mary’s University, Emmitsburg MD

  • 2005 Visiting Artist Lecture, Rider University, Lawrenceville NJ 

  • 2004 "Learning from Light: What Painting on the Premises of a Gothic Cathedral has Taught Me About the Nature of Art, Beauty and Creativity", Epiphanies of Beauty: The Arts for a Post-Christian Culture Conference, Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN 

  • 2004 “El Greco and Byzantine Icons”, National Academy of Design, New York NY

  • 2004 “El Greco’s Mystical Vision”, Dominican University, River Forest IL

PRESS & MEDIA

  • Perrine Brami, "Gael Mooney, une artiste new yorkaise aux pieds des gisants de Saint-Denis", France 3 TV, September 25, 2011 

  • Marion Kremp, "Cette Américaine peint la basilique depuis vingt ans", Le Parisien, France, August 15, 2011

  • John Goodrich, Pages: Bowery Gallery at 40 in B & W, Blurb Publishers, 2010. 

  • Anne-Claire Danel, "Le feuilleton de l'été: Saint-Denis: Episode 2", RTL Radio France, August 8, 2006

  • Jed Perl, "Beyond Belief", The New Republic, February 16, 2004 

TEACHING EXPERIENCE 

  • 2006, 2009 Adjunct Professor of Art and Theology, Dominican University, River Forest IL

  • 1992-1999 Adjunct Professor of Drawing and Painting, Queens College Department of Continuing Education, Queens NY 

  • 1993 Adjunct Professor of Art History, Suffolk Community College, Brentwood NJ

EDUCATION 

  • 1997-1999 New York Studio School, New York NY

  • 1989-1991 New York Academy of Art, New York NY (M.F.A. 1991)

  • 1999-2005 University of Notre Dame, M.A. in Theology Summer Program, Notre Dame IN

  • 1983-1985 Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C. (L.L.M. 1986)

  • 1980-1983 Northeastern University School of Law, Boston MA (J.D. 1983)

  • 1975-1977 Boston University, Boston MA (M.Ed. 1977)

  • 1970-1974 University of Colorado, Boulder, CO (B.A. 1974)