Vanessa Platacis

Platacis worked under the pseudonym PIXNIT, The pseudonym is based on the Latin phrase pinxit, meaning "he/she painted this work," which often accompanied artist signatures on European Late Medieval and Renaissance paintings. In 2007 The Boston Globe ran a feature story about her artwork.[7] Her painting style, combining graffiti with a distinctive stenciling technique, was guerilla art designed to simultaneously beautify and to critique the uses and misuses of the urban environment.[8]

Art critics championed PIXNIT’s work and it was also greatly admired by more wide-ranging viewers. In 2008 she was voted The Best of Boston Graffiti/Street/Performance Artist.[9] Her fans used the catchphrase “That’s so PIXNIT” in reference to a decorative element added to any surface. Platacis ended this body of work by releasing an obituary for PIXNIT claiming that “she was missing and was presumed dead in the spring of 2010 - last seen April 2nd when filmed by a CCTV camera near Pont Alexandre in Paris, France.” Platacis won the New England Art Award for Performance Art in 2010.

In conjunction with the first SCOPE Art Fair in Basel, Switzerland in 2007,[10] PIXNIT created a large-scale (12' x 30') painting installation, designed to challenge assumptions about graffiti in the urban environment.[11] Using a combination of hand-cut stencils and vinyl, the installation critiqued accepted histories relating to beauty and taste.

Co-organized by the Cambridge Arts Council and curator Geoff Hargadon, 4 Pleasant Street: A Retrospective is the first full-scale retrospective of work by Platacis. The 16' x 40' installation included dozens of her most recognizable paintings from her body of work as PIXNIT. The work brings together multi-cultural patterns and a monochromatic color palette to reflect Platacis’ contribution to the history of street art, painting and performance in Boston, Massachusetts.

On January 21, 2017, Platacis attended the 2017 Women's March in Washington D.C., the largest protest in U.S. history. Her performance work during the event, titled "¡NO!" was protest art and led to one of the iconic visual images of the march in addition to being published in dozens of books and magazines including The New York Times and Rolling Stone.[12] The marchers that attended that day went on to win the prestigious PEN/Toni and James C. Goodale Freedom of Expression Courage Award.[13] For Platacis, the performance used public space to address socio-political issues and to bring attention to policies regarding human rights, including women's rights, immigration reform, healthcare reform, reproductive rights, the environment, LGBTQ rights, racial equality, freedom of religion and workers' rights.

Taking Place. © Peabody Essex Museum. Photography by Bob Packert

Taking Place is a 2,700 sq. ft. painting installation that reimagines some of the Peabody Essex Museum's most beloved objects from their global collections.[3] Platacis' research-based art practice resulted in 210 stencils, all drawn and cut by hand. Organic forms and curvilinear lines emerge as dominant elements across generations and cultures as her labor-intensive contemporary approach to painting connects to the skill and artistry embedded within the historic objects of PEM's collection. The exhibition opened September 2019 and all 210 stencils have been acquired by PEM for the museum's permanent collection.