Linda Colletta is a self-taught abstract painter who focuses on process, color, and scale. Her work is bold and infused with elements of history, hard work, and heroism. It speaks to the triumph of the marginalized and repressed.
The physical process of her art is as important as the piece itself. Starting with an unprimed canvas, Linda’s process includes pressing paint through the layers of the canvas with her body weight, peeling them apart, flipping them over, and doing it again, over and over. She then tears her painting into strips and weaves them back together. “I am weaving paintings into three dimensional forms as a way to coalesce gender-driven movements throughout history,” says Linda.
The dramatic scale of her paintings and the immersive process itself are not just part of the art, but a representation of who she is and what she has to say. Getting to this point, though, was a journey full of highs and lows, one she recalls with gratitude for what she learned along the way.
“It took me years to realize that I could [paint] for a living. That I was good enough,” Linda says. “When I quit my other jobs, it was scary. I had to teach myself again. I had to ask myself, who am I as an artist? What do I want to paint?”
During this time, she credits local friends and business owners with her first big break, interior designers who sold painting to clients and stores who hung them on their walls.
Her acceptance into the Westport Fine Arts Festival was another important pivot point. “It was the first time I put together a cohesive body of work to hang and show. I was a local artist and the community loved meeting me. To this day, I have people calling me after seeing my work there.”
But it wasn’t until 2019 that she took the daring step of creating and hosting her own pop-up solo show. She rented a storefront in downtown Westport and displayed a new body of work. In the past, she painted a lot of things that she thought people would like, what they wanted, and although some of it sold, it never felt like it was her own voice.
This show became her chance to do whatever she wanted. But would it sell? She took a risk, financially and professionally. Set her own vision. Recognized that she sees something people don’t and trusted that. She returned to her NYC roots and aimed to be epic. She leaned into her love of color - a child of the 80’s after all, hot pink in her DNA.
Most important, she dared to be bold. The show became a creative statement of who she is and what she wanted to do.
And it sold out.
Success fueled by the risks she was willing to take.
Since then, she’s been in many prestigious shows, such as the 2022 Electric Woven show in Westport, and the London Art Fair in January 2023.
She believes the secret to her success is her continuing to follow the same approach. She does it her way. She trusts herself and her deep learning of the artists who have forged new ways before her. She pushes boundaries in her work as she honors the history of the craft itself.
In taking risks, she hopes to add something new to larger conversations. Anchored and yet freed by what others have done, she pushes herself not just for the outcome but for the process itself. The self-expression of it all resonates deeply in her art, reminding us all to demand to be seen and heard just as her art does.