John Zaccheo
John Zaccheo, American
Internationally recognized artist John Zaccheo is an accomplished professional painter and sculptor. John’s exceptional talent seeks a diverse range of expression. Whether painting in a realist, impressionist or abstract style, John is a master at using both a brush and a palette knife. With each stroke he is creating color and form that explodes on the canvas and captives the viewer. Rich in texture his painting captures a sense of light which magnifies form and magically changes appearance. His paintings have been referred to as more lush than nature’s own handy work since he employs color and form to improvise on each other thus enunciating natural harmony. His colors so smoothly interconnected seem to be a single movement.
“Color and light dance across my canvas as I recreate the effervescence of life.”
Much admired for his technical merit, John’s paintings are alive with color and luxurious detail. John finds inspiration for his work from his extensive travels ( he has meandered through 60 countries) and his affinity for the natural world. Mediterranean villages and seaports, alluring flower gardens and country settings brim with energy when rendered with John’s devotion to light.
John is also a renowned fine portraiture artist. His paintings reside in the libraries and museums of the following subjects: President Kennedy, President Carter, President Reagan, President Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Began of Israel. John also created the official painting of the original landing on the moon which was presented to astronaut, Neil Armstrong. John has also painted portraits for Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn and Tony Bennett.
Taking a leap from the visual imagery of the real world, John’s sculptures are a bold vessel for abstract form. Stark white angular and arching forms swoop in opposition yet coalesce and fuse with unity. These innovative forms were preceded by John’s realist sculptures carved in marble.
“As an artist you must continue to reach deep inside yourself to the private inner daydreams we all have. Making those daydreams come alive on canvas will bring joy to others. But it must bring joy to you first.”
Born in Kingston, New York, John earned degrees from Dutchess College (with a gold medal for outstanding achievements in fine art) and Syracuse University. After college John enlisted in the United States Navy, completing two world cruises and a tour duty of Viet Nam. After his Honorable Discharge, John continued his studies at the Art Student League in New York. He later studied with Arthur Lidov, John Pike, Robert Benny, David Lax, Joseph Hirsch, Leslie Ross and Lewis Krevolin.
Career positions include: Art Director of Seidman & Lane, American Management Association New York, Head Creative Director of Warner Brothers Music and Publications designing record covers for many top musicians (Elton John, Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Seals & Crofts, The Fifth Dimension and the Partridge Family). John did free lance projects for several leading New York advertising agencies and his illustrative work has been published in leading magazines, including Time and Life. John eventually opened his own advertising agencies in New York City and Kingston, New York, which he later sold and moved to Palm Beach, Florida to pursue a career in fine art. He was contracted with Wentworth Gallery, the largest national gallery chain. John created over 650 paintings and thousands of limited edition serigraphs and hundreds of embellished serigraphs on canvas for this company. John has had over 50 one man shows and has published many prints. From 2000-2009 John was the Creative Director and Artist in Residence for Applejack Art Partners in Manchester, Vermont. Currently, he is under license agreement with Art Licensing.