LINDA ZACKS

Interview about my work in NYC’s Park Magazine: “The Beauty of Imperfect”

Q: What advice would you give to someone interested in cultivating a body of work as diverse and energetic as yours?

A: Enjoy the beauty of slow, the beauty of imperfect. Record life as it whizzes by your nose. Take it all in. Inject the vibrancy, the surprises, the love, the conflict, the conversations. Keep moving. Keep trying. Keep failing. Don’t stop. Cultivate your voice—it’s a lifelong song.

Mixed Media on Canvas (Diptych)
96 X 60 inches
SOLD at SCOPE Miami

Mixed Media on Canvas
(Triptych)
144 X 60 inches
AVAILABLE

Mixed Media on Canvas
(Diptych)
96 X 36 inches
AVAILABLE

Part of the “ 1 word is a 3-course-meal ” Series

Mixed Media on Canvas
(Diptych)
96 X 36 inches
AVAILABLE

Part of the “ 1 word is a 3-course-meal ” Series

Mixed Media on Canvas
(Diptych)
96 X 36 inches
AVAILABLE

Part of the “ 1 word is a 3-course-meal ” Series

Mixed Media on Canvas
(Diptych)
96 X 36 inches
SOLD

Mixed Media on Canvas
(Diptych)
96 X 36 inches
SOLD

Mixed Media on Canvas
96 X 36 inches
(Diptych)
SOLD

Mixed Media on Canvas
(Diptych)
96 X 36 inches
SOLD

Archival Print on 100% Cotton, Hot Press Bright White Paper
Prints available.

Unique Print, Hand Embellished
Watercolor Paper, torn edges
62 X 39 inches (framed)
SOLD

Mixed Media on Canvas
96 X 54 inches
SOLD

Mixed Media Painting on Found Wood
36 X 24 inches
SOLD

A woman who runs an amazing bookbinding studio in NYC commissioned me to create a painting about 9/11. Those of us who lived through 9/11 in the city witnessed a great horror, followed by many years of slow rebirth. The new tower officially opened in 2014, so there was over a decade of watching the city pull itself up by the bootstraps from the tragedy.

HOME is about this transformation. From black and white memories of anxiety, an unforgettable smell of bone and metal, fear, indelible flashbacks, to the gradual process of colors and pulse of the city returning... rebirth, revitalize, rehabilitate, refresh, reinvent, rebuild…

Within my dense collages, there is a delicate story unfolding. Look closely so you don’t miss anything!

Two Panel, Print on Metal
72 X 24 inches
SOLD

Mixed Media on Canvas
(Diptych)
96 X 60 inches
SOLD

COLOR-WHEEL BRAIN
Mixed Media on Canvas
48 X 60
SOLD

COLOR-WHEEL BRAIN 2
Mixed Media on Canvas
60 X 48
SOLD

COLOR-WHEEL BRAIN 3
Mixed Media on Canvas
48 X 48
SOLD

What is a painting? What is a poem? What is a design? What is a photograph? My work lives in the in-between…. straddling mediums and resisting easy classification. 

Follow the Light is a large-scale mixed-media visual poem on canvas- a 120 x 48 inch diptych. 

This text painting is a love letter to light and nature and the miraculousness of the changing of the seasons… the moment when winter’s ominous blackness gives way to the welcome return of sun and long, lingering spring evenings. It captures that turning point when daylight saving time arrives, marking the shift from cold, opaque darkness to a blooming, technicolor brightness! There’s a quiet but powerful release of winter’s weight… a miraculous transition that turbocharges the reawakening of energy, color, and spirit!

The painting explores black on black and white on white…shifting between shiny, matte, and metallic surfaces, with splats of thin marks alongside globby, dimensional splats. It reveals itself differently in changing light: at times words emerge; at others, they vanish as the surface catches and reflects.

As with much of my work, I experiment with mixed-media typography and lettering- especially my process I call the “Human Typewriter,” in which I stamp out each letter one-by-one...much like on a real typewriter. Each letter becomes its own globby little masterpiece.

Typewriters hold special meaning for me: my husband proposed on one, and I’m drawn to the physicality of typing. I use mine all the time. It’s a workout and you usually end up injuring your fingers somehow... but every letter comes out slightly different, depending on how much oomph you give the keys. A typewriter is also the perfect tool for writing love letters: a beautifully imperfect, analog form of expression in a world dominated by computerized perfection.

Q: What is your favorite material to work with?

A: I like mark makers that bring surprise. I like the physicality of creating. Time's effect on materials that bring a delicious authenticity. The ink that oozes. The paint that splats. The pencil that smears. The paper that tears. The polaroid that's imperfect. The typewriter that makes a different "A" every time...."

Mixed Media on Canvas
48 X 48 inches
SOLD

Mixed Media on Canvas
48 X 60 inches
SOLD

Mixed Media on Canvas
48 X 60 inches
SOLD

Mixed Media Painting on Cardboard
22.75 X 17.5 inches
SOLD

Humans are complex. Humans are imperfect. Humans are human. Mixed Media Paintings on Cardboard. Prints available.

“COLD OUTSIDE, HOT IN HEAD”
“BRINK EDGE VERGE”
“COLOSSAL CEMENT CITY”
“WITHOUT LIMITS”
“RESILIENCE”

Mixed Media on Canvas
48 X 48 inches
AVAILABLE

Part of the “Spring is in my veins” Series, this painting is about that feeling when winter thaws out and everything just blooms.

Mixed media on Canvas
48 X 48 inches
AVAILABLE

Mixed Media on Canvas
(Diptych)
72 X 48 inches

Part of the “Spring is in my veins” Series, this painting is about that feeling when winter thaws out and everything just blooms.

My 1945 Remington DeLuxe has been part of my work for years.

I use it to write, draw, build images and make words physical. Its letters have found their way into paintings, prints, illustrations, books, animations, branding - and eventually the logo for THE SWEAT POET.

Sometimes the words are the idea. Sometimes the type becomes the image. Sometimes it’s both.

WORDS + TYPE + IMAGE = MATERIAL

Mixed Media Construction on Paper
100 X 72 inches
SOLD

“Can’t Walk A Straight Line” is a handmade book about NYC. Each spread tells a personal story about the vibrant, ever-changing city.

Copies of the book were previously available at The International Center of Photography Store.

See the book

Gyotaku Inked Print of Surfboard on Rice Paper & Mixed Media on Canvas. Collaboration with Scott Szegeski
24 X 82 inches
SOLD

Gyotaku Inked Print of Surfboard on Rice Paper & Mixed Media on Canvas. Collaboration with Scott Szegeski
24 X 68 inches
AVAILABLE

Gyotaku Inked Print of Surfboard on Rice Paper & Mixed Media on Canvas. Collaboration with Scott Szegeski
24 X 80 inches
SOLD