My work constitutes visual metaphors for the mind, emerging from the analysis, confluence, and synthesis of idea, concept, and philosophy.

I have developed a fondness of, and appreciation for, the austere and the direct,the result of living at a Zen center and devoting a number of years to the study and practice of Zen, yet I have a passion for paradoxical expression.

My paradoxes utilize high metaphors to construct secondary and local analogies, which fuse the sacred and the profane, symbolism and irony. I delight in the use of double symbolism; thus, my titles complete the paintings and impart those extra dimensions and meanings.

Frequent motifs in my paintings are animated toys, at once suspended between life and non-life. In search of answers, they plunge into forgetful dreams, or stand out in their highly ornate clothes on unexpectedly ornate backgrounds, captured at the moments of their insights or revelations. Their world is a mosaic made of artificial jewels on magnificent landscapes, sparkling with the glow of starlight and the twilight of dusk.

Through stylization, attention is drawn to and focused upon main semantic characters in their quest, while their often human-like bodies and expressions serve as the conduit for emotion, and they become subject and object, prototype and archetype.

Quite often, a theme unites a number of individual works into a series.

My works are theatrical masks of the soul, and are reflective of my own journey through life and through art.

Biography

Sigita Monika Sula explores, and works in, various artistic media, such as oil painting, stained glass, illustration, and graphic design.

She graduated with honors from what is now the Vilnius Academy of Arts, where she studied painting, drawing, and stained-glass design. Monika has created, on commission, stained-glass windows and interior designs for many public buildings in Lithuania. Her illustrations have appeared in books and magazines. Monika's paintings have been acquired by private collectors and are exhibited in galleries in Europe and the United States.

Monika also pursued the study of Zen for last 22 years, including a rigorous seven-year retreat and residency at the Providence Zen Center. She often participates in long and short meditation retreats with internationally respected Zen Masters and fellow practitioners.

She dedicates and devotes her life to the study and practice of Zen Buddhism and to her art. The two converge, influence, and inspire each other.

Monika currently teaches art at Columbia College in Chicago.