“Soil As Witness” is the sound of the world wailing. The figures in these paintings are from nowhere exactly and from no particular time in history. They exist on the threshold where the past, present and future weave our Collective Unconscious. They are made up from stains and puddles not governed by the rules of this world. Instead, they make their own laws and break them as needed—much like the artist’s painting vocabulary, which flirts with abstraction quite powerfully. Ruznic refers to them as psychopomps—intermediary figures from mythology who transport dying souls from this world to the next. These psychopomps seem to have evaporated from the soil and are here to reconcile, soothe and manage our bad behavior. Ruznic’s ambiguous narratives invite us to recognize ourselves in their dramas.

Born in Bosnia & Herzegovina in 1983, Ruznic immigrated to the United States with her family in 1995. She studied Psychology and Art at UC Berkeley and later received her MFA from the California College of Arts. She has shown her work at Carmen Wiedenhoeft Gallery in Denver, Galeri G-Art in Istanbul, MASS Gallery in Austin, Conduit Gallery in Dallas, Galerie Ernst Hilger in Vienna, Galerie d’Ys in Brussels, Charlie James Gallery, Shulamit Nazarian Gallery and CES Gallery in Los Angeles, and the Torrance Art Museum. Ruznic’s work has been written about in JUXTAPOZ, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Studio Visit Magazine, AGENDA Magazine, and twice in New American Paintings, including the cover as selected by curator Anne Ellegood.