Linda Carmella Sibio is an American performance artist, painter, and advocate for mentally disabled artists and individuals.
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Biography
Linda Carmella Sibio was born in West Virginia in 1953. After her father died, she was raised in an orphanage while her mother was living in a state asylum. By her account, she started drawing at age 11 because she couldn’t sleep. She was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and manic-depression while she was attending Ohio State University, where she earned her BFA in painting in 1975. She lives in a Buddhist Temple in Joshua Tree, California where she continues to practice her art.
Work
Sibio's art is inspired by the events of her own life and the problems that her mental illness creates. Her work includes solo performances and drawings made with sumi ink and gouache. In her three and a half hour performance piece West Virginia Schizophrenic Blues Sibio tells the story of her own mother with schizophrenia and having to be separated from her at a young age. She describes her art as “dark and edgy.” “The colors are intense and different. The composition is good, the feelings it evokes are my experiences and perceptions.” [Maryland Psychiatric Newsletter] Sibio has exhibited across the United States and in Europe, and is represented by New York-based Andrew Edlin gallery.
Selected Solo Exhibits
2005 The Insanity Principle, Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2004 Scope LA Art Fair, Los Angeles, CA
2003 The Insanity Principle, painting, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY
2002 Panic Attack, solo performance, Highways, Santa Monica, CA
1999 West Virginia Schizophrenic Blues, Art and Madness, performance, writing and installation, Franklin Furnace, New York, NY
Energy and Light and their Relationship to Suicide, performance, writing, installation, music, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
1996 Energy and Light and their Relationship to Suicide, Love Underground Vision Radio, Berkeley, CA
1994 Hallelujah I'm Dead, installation, video, performance, writing, music, Rachel Rosenthal Co. Studio, Los Angeles, CA
West Virginia Schizophrenic Blues, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
1993 Energy and Light and their Relationship to Suicide, Rachel Rosenthal Co. Studio, Los Angeles, CA
Suicide Particles, California State Fullerton, The Whiskey A-Go-Go, Sin-a-matic, all Los Angeles, CA
1991 West Virginia Schizophrenic Blues, installation, performance, writing, Franklin Furnace, New York, NY
Selected Group Exhibits
2009 In the No, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY
Armory Show, VSA arts, New York, NY
2007 Brussels 25th Contemporary Art Fair, Brussels, Belgium
Outsider Art Fair, New York, NY
2005 On the Outskirts, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York
2002 Queen of the American Way, High Desert Playhouse, Joshua Tree, CA
2001 Manic Wisteria, experimental play with mentally disabled, High Desert Playhouse, Joshua Tree, CA
2001 formed Cracked Eggs, an interdisciplinary group of mentally disabled artists
Merciless Containment, performance, Beatnik Cafe, Joshua Tree, CA
Cavin-Morris Gallery, paintings, New York, NY
1995 Flowers Fall from a Golden Cathedral, Gay and Lesbian Community Center, Los Angeles, CA
Selected Honors and Awards
2001 Artist in Residence, mentally disabled, California Arts Council
2000 Artist in Residence, at risk youth, California Arts Council
1995 Lannan Foundation Grant through Southern Theater
1994 Rockefeller Map Award, Daedalus Performance Company
1992-95 Art Matters, New York, NY
1990-95 Cultural Affairs Grant, Los Angeles, CA