Christina Saj is a first generation, Ukrainian-American contemporary artist whose abstract paintings reveal a fascination with vivid color and rich pattern inspired by her heritage. Her distinctly recognizable style calls on modernist roots, and an interest in materials. Unlike a lot of modern art, Saj’s work hails beauty to build her vocabulary. She is an iconographer of the future. Her colorful and playful paintings beckon the inner child while remaining in conversation with the Old world traditions in which her work is steeped. The work offers the viewer a place of respite and visual joy. Her images allude to the tradition of sacred paintings, informed by her early training and work with the noted Ukrainian Iconographer, Petro Kholodny, the Younger, exposing her to ancient methods of painting in egg tempera. Saj holds a BA in Painting from Sarah Lawrence, an MFA from Bard College and studied Byzantine Art History at Oxford University.
Saj continues adapting and innovating her techniques to engage modern audiences in new ways with use of unusual materials which expand her reach as a painter. Her work has been widely exhibited, including such venues as the Museum of Biblical Art (NYC), The National Cathedral, (DC) The Cathedral of St. John the Divine (NYC), Union Theological Seminary (NYC), The Ukrainian Museum (NYC), The Museum of Cultural Heritage (Kiev, Ukraine), The National Museum in (Lviv, Ukraine), the American Embassy (Doha, Qatar,) as well as at the White House (DC). Her works reside in private and museum collections in the US and abroad. She maintains an active studio in New Jersey where she welcomes commissions.
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