Revisiting the Abstract Physicality of the Late Jackie Saccoccio

"In the compositions of late American artist Jackie Saccoccio, the evocation of otherworldly terrains is precisely balanced with the marks and traces of the highly physical processes that brought them to life. Marking the second solo show dedicated to Saccoccio following her untimely death in 2020 at age 56, Van Doren Waxter, New York, revisits the artist's expansive, abstract worlds in "Portraits," on view through April 24."

"Originally from Providence, Rhode Island, Saccoccio first studied architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design before changing her focus to painting, though her early interest in architecture can be seen in her subsequent pursuit of a painting style that bridged the purely visual with the physical and tactile. She went on to receive her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and by the 1990s, her work was firmly situated in the style of gestural abstraction."

"Over the course of her career, she visited Italy several times, first while still a student in 1983 and later on other scholarships and grants. Paralleling the inspiration she drew from Abstract Expressionism, she was deeply influenced by Italian art, specifically Roman Baroque painting and architecture."

Jackie Saccoccio was an American abstract artist who studied architecture before transitioning to painting at the Rhode Island School of Design and later earned her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her mature work combined gestural abstraction in the tradition of Helen Frankenthaler and Joan Mitchell with influences from Italian Baroque painting and architecture. The exhibition "Portraits" at Van Doren Waxter in New York showcases five paintings and seven works on paper, representing the height of her experimental process. Several paintings incorporate the term "portrait" in their titles, suggesting personal creative interpretations of the genre. Her work demonstrates a unique visual language that merges abstract composition with the visible traces of physical artistic processes.

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