About

Tom Westberg

Tom Westberg is a Minnesota painter whose work draws from the tradition of Abstract Expressionism while maintaining a persistent connection to the recognizable world.

Born and raised in Minneapolis, Westberg served in the United States Marine Corps before studying art at Anoka-Ramsey Community College and Bemidji State University. He earned his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Oregon, where he studied under painter Frank Okada. After graduation, he returned to Minnesota, where he has continued to live and work.

Over nearly four decades, Westberg’s painting has evolved from more geometrical, frame-to-edge compositions toward work that is increasingly intuitive and responsive to the physical qualities of the medium. His paintings combine structure and spontaneity, color, gesture, movement and surface operating alongside fragments of recognizable form.

“Abstract, not abstract.”

Even the most abstract shapes retain some connection to the real world, while recognizable objects can become vehicles for abstraction. That tension between the familiar and the uncertain remains central to his work.