Anastaci Pacella
Anastaci Pacella is a multimedia artist whose practice encompasses three distinct bodies of work: 1. commercial mural work; 2. drawings, paintings, and installations that explore domesticity, sexuality, and discomfort; and 3. custom boudoir drawings and painting with a specialty in male nudes. Pacella incorporates her bright color palette and distinct mark-making into each series and ties them together thematically with a desire to create a softer, more loving world.
Pacella earned a BFA in Art Education from UMass Dartmouth in 2012 and her MFA in Visual Arts at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Pacella has exhibited throughout New England in a variety of group exhibitions and has enjoyed the support of numerous artists, including Faith Wilding, who have helped her foster connections between her art, feminist values, and community activism. Pacella is also a Co-Founder and curator of The Cordial Eye Gallery and Artist Space in Hyannis, MA, where she uses her platform to hold space for emerging artists questioning social norms and investigating forms of institutional critique.
Mural Work
Painting the Future Bright at West Villages
Karibbean Lounge
Stewards of Our Sacred Land
Drawings
Pencil on Watercolor Paper
9”x12”
Drawings from Home
Working artist mothers have always needed to negotiate space and time to create their work with the needs of their families, this idea is not new, and while I do not think it is unique to parents - don’t all people need to balance the needs of their work with the needs of others in their lives?- it is certainly took on a new urgency as my family navigated remote learning together after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. We negotiated who gets the computers for meetings and when, who got to use the kitchen table and who must attend meetings from their bedrooms. We navigated this tricky space of creating an illusion of privacy for each other, especially my young teenager who both wanted to be a part of what everyone else is doing, yet couldn’t stand when people are paying too much attention to him.
All this activity and space and not space coexists with my longstanding questions surrounding my ambivalence towards motherhood. I both desire and don’t desire this role in my life. Through drawing these moments of intimacy, chaos, and mundanity, I am able to connect when I want to push away. Despite the gentle and sentimental approach to these works, this drawing series emerged not from an idyllic love of motherhood, but rather a resigned recognition that this is my life right now, and I’d better pay attention to what that means for me.
Pencil on Watercolor Paper
9”x12”
Drawings from Home
Working artist mothers have always needed to negotiate space and time to create their work with the needs of their families, this idea is not new, and while I do not think it is unique to parents - don’t all people need to balance the needs of their work with the needs of others in their lives?- it is certainly took on a new urgency as my family navigated remote learning together after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. We negotiated who gets the computers for meetings and when, who got to use the kitchen table and who must attend meetings from their bedrooms. We navigated this tricky space of creating an illusion of privacy for each other, especially my young teenager who both wanted to be a part of what everyone else is doing, yet couldn’t stand when people are paying too much attention to him.
All this activity and space and not space coexists with my longstanding questions surrounding my ambivalence towards motherhood. I both desire and don’t desire this role in my life. Through drawing these moments of intimacy, chaos, and mundanity, I am able to connect when I want to push away. Despite the gentle and sentimental approach to these works, this drawing series emerged not from an idyllic love of motherhood, but rather a resigned recognition that this is my life right now, and I’d better pay attention to what that means for me.
Graphite and acrylic on watercolor paper
8”x10”
"Pleasure Mapping" uses repetitive mark making, abstracted human forms, and spots of hot pink paint to explore memory, sensuality, discomfort and pleasure. This drawing series was inspired by bodily memories I had while reading Roxanne Gay's book "Difficult Women." I recommend this book with caution, especially if you have a history of trauma or abuse as it is a collection of short stories and flash fiction that provides a counter to the trope that "our trauma makes us stronger." Sometimes our trauma is just traumatic.
Graphite and acrylic on Arches watercolor paper
8”x10”
"Pleasure Mapping" uses repetitive mark making, abstracted human forms, and spots of hot pink paint to explore memory, sensuality, discomfort and pleasure. This drawing series was inspired by bodily memories I had while reading Roxanne Gay's book "Difficult Women." I recommend this book with caution, especially if you have a history of trauma or abuse as it is a collection of short stories and flash fiction that provides a counter to the trope that "our trauma makes us stronger." Sometimes our trauma is just traumatic.
Installations
Purity, Piety, Receptivity, and Grace
It’s not that I’m obsessed with penises, I’m fascinated by people’s reactions to them. We are fairly comfortable with seeing naked female bodies, female body parts, but it is still so uncommon to see naked male bodies and parts that it almost always elicits a strong reaction from people.
The impetus for this series is quite simple: I love dicks.
There are other reasons too; as I was engrossed in a figure drawing (penis drawing), I was looking at this wrinkly, floppy thing and wondered, “How did this shriveled little organ become such a strong symbol of power?” I wanted to take away its power and violence and return it to a site of pleasure. Reacting against the tendency of some feminist artists such as Judith Berenstein, to use the penis as a symbol for violence, these paintings are more in line with the “Male Landscapes” of Edith Golden. They explore the penis as a site for sensuality through the female gaze.
I am open to commissioned work of this nature for folks who are 18+. I’ve found that most people seeking commissions are respectful and simply looking for moments of body acceptance, self-love, or want to share a gift with their partner.
