Swedish artist Gordon Skalleberg is known for his paintings of faces and people. Expertly capturing gesture and emotion, he muses about “…trying to see beyond the surface…we can recognize joy and sadness, maybe even a subtle lie – but are we really aware of what we are seeing?” A native of Arild, Sweden and now a resident of Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, Skalleberg transitioned to full-time artist after years in the family’s business. Handling the firm’s visual promotion planted a creative seed. The transformative life shift – a painting course at the Swedish art school Gerlesborgsskolan. Skalleberg paints in oil on untreated wood. The naturally unique patterns of wood grain are visible beneath the paint, providing appealing movement and texture, and often serve as pictorial elements. The mercurial process delights him and his viewers. A recent relocation to Santa Fe, with desert landscapes and open skies, inspired new imagery in a semi-abstract landscape-style that draws on the quintessential Southwestern features, with his distinctive twist. His oil on wood lends itself strikingly to these works. Shown in galleries and esteemed juried exhibitions in Sweden since 2007 and more recently in New York and Santa Fe, Skalleberg has been part of the prestigious annual Studio Tour in southwest Sweden since 2015. Occasionally he accepts commissions – a recent example being Netflix engaging him to paint portraits of Uma Thurman and Tony Goldwyn for a production. The global press has begun to take note. Skalleberg is represented in museum, corporate and private collections in Sweden and the United States.