Jonny Forsstrom, the Swedish-born artist, is in his fourth decade of challenging his viewers with startling images of remarkable intensity. Noted for his bold and masterful command of color, and the liberate awkwardness of his figures, Forsstrom's bright palettes and fanciful compositions deliver a strong message about the essential ambiguity of human relationships and human existence.

Forsstrom's is the art of the subtle gesture. He captures with tremendous economy of line, the nuances along a continuum of emotions. He depicts, with disarming clarity, the strain at the moment of separation, the pain of rejection. His sensitivity to the dynamics of human interaction - between lovers, between parents and children, between strangers, friends or enemies - is a hallmark of his work.

Forsstrom's physical environment is bathed in vibrantly uncompromising color. In many works his world is rich in texture and visual complexity. Yet, it too is a world that startles - it is a precarious place. Perspective is distorted. Objects are balanced with an often-threatening fragility. Strong planes of color meet and form backgrounds that crowd the subjects and heighten tension. Or, design abruptly shifts from the horizontal to the vertical, moving the eye toward a new element on the canvas that can signify danger or competition, stability or hope. It is a physical world that is never completely at rest, but always moving toward additional meaning.

Jonny Forsstrom delights and challenges in the best tradition of modern art. His experiments in ink, charcoal and chalk, his graceful work in gouache, and his full compositions in watercolor and oil, all reveal the hand, of a unique artist willing to raise difficult questions and risk strong statements. His inquiring spirit searches out life's subtle, emotional moments, and his artistic talent writes them large.