Maja Ruznic (b. 1983, Bosnia and Herzegovina) is a New Mexico-based artist who paints diluted, out-of-focus figures and landscapes that explore nostalgia and childhood trauma and are influenced in part by war and the refugee experience. The ritualistic nature of her work reflects religious and mythological interests, including Slavic paganism and Shamanism. For six years following her graduation from the California College of the Arts, Ruznic worked with ink and watercolor in her small San Francisco bedroom. She refers to the loose, runny style she developed as “the drunken hand.” Ruznic has since expanded this gestural approach to oil, while still bearing the influence of water-based media.

Ruznic’s work is in the collections of the San Francesco MoMA, San Francesco, California; He Art Museum, Foshan; 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 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).