“What You See Is What You Get” opens on Jan. 19 at 6 p.m., with a talk at 7 p.m. by Johan Wahlstrom.
Wahlstrom is a 5th generation Swedish artist from Stockholm. He began his artistic career in music touring with rock musicians such as Ian Hunter and Graham Parker. In 1998, he transitioned to painting and moved to a small French village to study with Swedish artist Lennart Nystrom. In the early 2000s, Wahlstrom gained recognition for his ability to capture crowds through the compositions of his paintings. He often pulls inspiration from his previous career as a musician and from his experiences traveling around the world. Wahlstrom moved to the United States in 2016 and began further integrating social commentary into his work. That year he produced a black-and-white series titled House of Lies commenting on then presidential candidate Donald J. Trump.

In “What You See Is What You Get” Wahlstrom reconnects with the artists who originally inspired him such as Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Karel Appel, and Asger Jorn. Pieces in this series comment on political and social concerns such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine and current Swedish politics. Wahlstrom continuously looks to critique and re-frame society through his comedic, abstract style.