Jackie Saccoccio
Installation Femme Brut, Van Doren Waxter January 2020
My daughter Theresa and I standing in front of Red-Tempest (Concave) 2019, New York, February 2020
Jackie Saccoccio In her Studio 2019
The Art World has lost one of its superheroes this month. I was so saddened to hear of Jackie Saccoccio’s death. Though we never met, she has been one of my art heroes and mentors for several years, ever since fellow artist and friend, Helen O’Toole recommended I look at her work. At first glance, I became a believer. My eyes delighted as they took in the pours of fluid oil paint, the complex layers, and the fearlessness of her canvases. Jackie’s methods with paint feel lavish, abundant and physically forceful. Her superpower is color! Looking at her palette choices I am taken back to Tiepolo, Titian and Custave Courbet. Her painting’s complex and deep space sing with operatic drama and force.
Her work resonates with me on several levels. One connection in particular is her Italian roots. Growing up myself on the East Coast with Italian immigrant grandparents surrounded by a large, noisy and excessive extended family, I feel all this when I pour over her surfaces.
I close with this keen observation by art writer Grace Edquist,
“Standing before one of Saccoccio’s paintings, there’s a sense of push versus pull, explosion versus implosion. There’s a clear gravitational force to the work - the question is if that force is pulling you into the painting, or if the painting is reaching out to you, a figure of yearning committed to canvas.”