Gary Westfjord is an artist and Instructor in Art at Linn- Benton Community College in Albany, Oregon. He was also a competitive wrestler from 1962-1969, including a 3rd place finish at 149.5 lbs at the 1969 Far West Freestyle Regional Tournament in San Francisco, CA.

Gary earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from U.C. Berkeley. His art work has been displayed at 30 group exhibitions and 7 one-person art exhibitions. His pieces have also been displayed in several museums, including the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland, and the Hallie Ford Museum of Art in Salem, Oregon.

The impetus for the wrestling paintings displayed on this site came from Gary's total frustration at the lack of televised prime time wrestling during the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. The Original Olympic Sport deserved far more attention than a few minutes of highlights shown at 2:00 AM.

Since then, he has been hard at work on painting dynamic images of International caliber athletes in Freestyle, Greco-Roman, and Women's Wrestling. His goal is to get them displayed in the best museums and galleries in America.

Recently he entered the image of Darryl Christian at Real Pro Wrestling into a juried competition for a portrait show to be held at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. The best artists from across America submit their artwork to this show so even entering it in such a competition is an honor. Westfjord feels as though this painting "is dynamic and dramatic-- it captures the action and essence of wrestling."

Check back on this site for more paintings to come in the near future, as well as updates on the National Portrait Competition.

If you are interested in having a custom painting made or purchasing one of the existing pieces, feel free to contact Gary at Westfjord47@aol.com.