Nikolai Sazhin

Born in 1948 in Troitsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Nikolai graduated from the School of Graphic Arts of the Repin Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. The artist lived and worked in St. Petersburg and died on 2 April 2019.

Nikolai Sazhin’s contribution to the Leningrad art scene was made through his distinctive and masterfully executed works inspired by folklore and paganism. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, he illustrated books and worked on his own paintings and graphic art pieces. Whereas in painting he preferred complex textures and a dark and saturated palette, his graphic works tended to be more succinct. Nevertheless, his scenes and imagery remained unfailingly unconventional, verging on the point of visual paradox. According to the artist, his art always explored the same recurring themes: love and death, Eros and Thanatos, their convergence and transformations. Sazhin’s signature style was rooted in borderline states and constant play with form and meaning.