Maja Ruznic
Maja Ruznic (b. 1983, Bosnia and Herzegovina) is a New Mexico-based painter whose work fuses personal narrative, psychoanalysis, and mythology into paintings which feature ghostlike, diluted forms and vivid colorfields. Working on both immense and small scales, Ruznic extracts order from intense layers of color, often revealing geometric patterns and spectral figures. Painting variably with oils and gouache, Ruznic also creates work of deep abstraction, distinguished by diaphanous passages of jewel-toned pigment. Ruznic’s practice is also informed by her studies, from Slavic shamanism and pagan ritual to Jungian psychoanalysis, Sumerian myth and meditation. Imbued with a discordant beauty, Ruznic’s compositions are guided by a deep intentionality, yet emerge without a premeditated outcome.
Ruznic’s work is in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California; Dallas Art Museum, Dallas, Texas; The Rachofsky House, Dallas, Texas; EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo, Finland; Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California; and the Jiménez–Colón Collection Collection, Puerto Rico. Recent exhibitions include the Aspen Art Museum, Aspen (2022); Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque (2022); Karma, New York, New York (2022); Museo di Palazzo Pretorio, Prato, Italy (2021); and Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, New Mexico (2021).
Photo by Brad Trone
Born 1983, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Lives and works in Placitas, New Mexico
EDUCATION
2009
MFA, California College of the Arts
2005
BFA, University of California Berkeley
Selected Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions
2022
Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, Migration of Spirits
Karma, New York, Consulting With Shadows
2021
Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, New Mexico, In the Sliver of the Sun
2020
Hales Gallery, London, Name of the Voice
Conduit Gallery, Dallas, My Noiseless Entourage
2019
Galerie d’Ys, Brussels, Maja Ruznic and Anya Belyat-Ginuta
2018
Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Avet
2017
Duplex100m2, Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Phantom Caravan
2016
CES Gallery, Los Angeles, The Wailing Sisters
Jack Fischer Gallery, San Franscico, Soil as Witness
2015
Galerie d’YS, Brussels, Yellow Throat Ribs
Candyland, Stockholm, Untitled
She Works Flexible, Houston, Maja Ruznic and Luz Maria Sanchez, The Boogeyman Is Here
Eastside International, Los Angeles, Maja Ruznic and Ranee Henderson, Lonely Hunters
2014
Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Like Little Miracles They Shimmered, Wet and Innocent
Born Gallery, Berlin, Maja Ruznic and Nina Kluth, Refuge
Jack Fischer Gallery, San Franscico, Maja Ruznic and Joshua Hagler, Among the Missing
Bustamante Gill Gallery, Los Angeles, Maja Ruznic and Yevgeniya Mikhailik, Tender Remains
2012
Trailer Park Projects, Puerto Rico, Messengers
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023
Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany, Canned Heat
2022-23
2022
Galleria Anna Marra, Rome, Postcard from New York – Part III
2021-22
Museo di Palazzo Pretorio, Prato, HI WOMAN!
2021
Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles, From Morning Til Night, We Should Never Rely on a Single Thing
2020
Matthew Brown, Los Angeles
James Fuentes, New York, Abstract with Figure
Harper’s Apartment, New York, Yarrow Pickers
Shrine, New York, GOOD LUCK
2019
Gildar Gallery, Denver, A Little Tenderness
Baby Blue Gallery, Chicago, Euphoric Flex
LAST Projects, Los Angeles, TBA
2018
DORF, Austin, Figures
Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Per Diem
pt. 2, Gallery, Oakland, Calico Sunset
Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell, New Mexico, PARALLAX
Western Kentucky University, Kentucky, Proof of Existence: An Exhibit of Work by Contemporary Artists of Bosnian and Balkan Origin
OCHI GALLERY, Ketchum, Indiana, Does It Make a Sound
2017
BEERS, London, Tickle Torture
ACME, Los Angeles, By the River
Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, With Liberty and Justice for Some
2016
MAIDEN LA, Los Angeles, Elysian Passage
Shulamit Nazarian Gallery, Los Angeles, Phantom Limb
Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, Werewolf
Arc Gallery, San Francisco, Between Worlds
2015
Galerie d’Ys, Paris, YIA Art Fair
Galerie Ernst Hillger, Vienna, Angels With Dirty Faces
Torrance Art Museum, California, Sincerely Yours
Figure One, Champaign, Painting is Dead?!
2014
Carmen Wiedenhoeft Gallery, Denver, Colorado Boundary//Battle
Galeri G-Art, Istanbul, “I” in their Own Words
MASS Gallery, Austin, Texas, Exquisite Corpse
2013
Galerie Vidal St. Phalle, Paris, 3 Person Show with Martin Assig and Eleanor Moreton
Arc Gallery, San Francisco, Four Squared Alumni Show
Alter Space, San Francisco, What The Mouth Sees
2012
Alter Space, San Franscico, What’s Left Behind
Michael Rosenthal Gallery, San Francisco, Active
2011
HANG Art Gallery, San Francisco, Figure 8
Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco, Cries of San Francisco
Micro Climate Collective, San Francisco, Perfect Place/No Place: Re-Imagining Utopia
2010
Arc Gallery, San Francisco, Dollhouse
Heist Gallery, San Francisco, Til Death Do Us Part
Rootdivision, San Francisco, Borders
arttransponder, Berlin, The American Orifice
Alphonse Berber Gallery, Berkeley, California, Works That Disturb The Moonlight
2009
Rod Pulliam Gallery, Portland, Oregon, Summer Group Exhibition
California College of the Arts, San Francisco, MFA Thesis Exhibition
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas
Rachofsky House, Dallas, Texas
Jiménez–Colón Collection, Puerto Rico
Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo, Finland
He Art Museum, Foshan, China
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California
