LINDA SACCOCCIO

Saccoccio's work bridges a gap between east and west, through ideology, practice and subject matter. In one sense her work captures the spirit of the abstract expressionists and color field painters. Her work also evokes the spiritual practice of the zen artist--where she approaches the white canvas, tapping into the unknown through silence and patience and being led by and trusting her intuitions.  

Saccoccio's painting has evolved since leaving the dense and linear environment of New York City, where she worked as a painter and attended graduate school at the School of Visual Arts. Spending the past eight years amidst the expansive beauty of Santa Barbara, with its subtle qualities of atmosphere and light, and its brilliant and earthy colors, has irreversibly changed her visual vocabulary. She is inspired by her surroundings, whether hiking in the foothills, walking on the beach, or just seeing the Channel Islands and the Pacific Ocean from her home.  

Visually, works created between 2000-2009, were generally large and characterized by gestural and calligraphic brush strokes of varied weight and size, which sit, and sometimes hover, over layers of flat bands of color. Dr. Sherry Buckberrough, Chair of the Art History Department at the University of Hartford, writes of Saccoccio’s work: “Color provides the ground for the flight of lines that insist, defiantly, on staying above it all. Seeking transcendence, and carrying the viewer with them, they swoop and sweep as though measuring themselves against the winds of their surrounding fields.” In her Chakras Series (2007-2009), Saccoccio depicted each of the seven chakras, with their corresponding colors, Sanskrit alphabets, and brushstrokes representing the flight of the yoginis. 

Over the last year Saccoccio has embarked on a new series of twelve paintings. After the series was complete, she wrote a poem for each of them. The poems serve to lead the viewer by adding a layer of possibility and interest, while still inviting the viewer's own interpretation. Her words interact with the tonal and lyrical qualities of color and brushstroke, as if to compose a song.

Exhibits: Linda Saccoccio’s works will also be showing later in 2012 at Sansum with a show titled Seven Chakras.

Education:  RISD European Honors Program, Rome, Italy; B.F.A., Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI; Painting Studies, School of the Museum of Fine Arts; M.F.A., School of Visual Arts, New York City,NY; Summer Writing Program, Naropa University, Boulder, CO