SASKIA JELL

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Saskia is a multidisciplinary German American artist — an internationally award-winning filmmaker and painter, working primarily with oil paint soaked directly into unprimed canvas and acrylic photographic prints stained with acrylic paint. Her works communicate with the viewer in an intimate and visceral dialog through form, color, light and the illusion of space. Her paintings are designed to transmute energy; creating their own beautiful environments and imaginary life forms, inspired by the intense beauty she finds in nature at a secluded painting studio in the Bavarian Alps, amidst her travels to remote Icelandic Glaciers and in the contrast of her art studio in high energy New York City. 

Saskia grew up with artist parents in a loft in Soho, New York City, and was exposed to the art world and gallery scene early on. Her years spent working for the renowned art dealer Luhring and Augustine in Chelsea, helped her develop a keen insight into painting, contemporary art and the business of art dealing. After completing a BFA at Rhode Island School of Design, Saskia went on to complete her Masters at the Academy for Film and Television in Munich.

Her awards include; The ABC Disney Directing Talent Award, the Young Talent Award from Hennessy Advertising Awards, Best Young Filmmaker Award from the Bavarian Film Academy 

( BFA ). Saskia’s films “Drive” and “Blind”, which she wrote and directed, both won Best Screenplay Grants from the esteemed Prinzregenten Theatre in Munich, and Screenplay Grants from the German Film Fund (FFF). Her thesis film “Blind” won Best Short Film in the Barcelona Film Festival, Best Camera and Best Young Actress Award in the Berlin Film Festival and Best Short Film Award in the Other Venice Film Festival, in Venice, Los Angeles. Additionally, her films have shown in other festivals around the world such as The Edinburgh Film Festival, The Clairement-Ferrand Film Festival in France and The Chicago Film Festival, among others. 

After years of working in the film industry in Germany and Los Angeles, Saskia recently returned to her first love of painting. The first solo show of her paintings in 2023 at “Die Segelfabrik” in Berlin, Germany sold out. Saskia currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.