Joel Sager

Zoe with a Black Cat and Starling

2025

Joel D. Sager (b. 1980) is a contemporary American painter of landscapes, still-life and portraiture. Often drawing on such standard subject matter with economy and singularity— a solitary figure in a room or misplaced sock on a bed— the conceptual element of his work becomes a contemplation on meaning for even the simplest objects: person, place, or thing. Sager's process often involves a distinctive mixture of media, incorporating tar with oil pigments, or wallpaper with squid ink, or graphite and cut paper. Through these unique media compositions, Sager's paintings create a new voice on fundamental elements handed down from art history. Sager’s work has been shown internationally from Hollywood, California to Yokohama, Japan and can be found in both private and corporate collections. His paintings have been seen in print at True/False Film Fest and in the publications of Persea Books, New York. Sager resides with his family in Columbia, Missouri.