Art-friendly cafe/gallery VOLTAGE hosts the opening party tonight for this solo show of artist/designer SILVI NACI, and it is a doozy. Copper Intaglio, KM photopolymer and other printforms, each lend their own textural character, however, what really ties the show together is the archetypal themes in play. Throughout this series of 30+ prints one finds recurring skeletal, avian, insectoid and cherubic characters; posed sometimes in classic Judeo-Christian scene and elsewhere (especially in later works) in tattooine cluster. Each image is redolent with symbolic intrigue: in figure chimaerization and juxtaposition, integrated (sometimes backmasked) text, and mythical setting.

Naci studied in Mexico and Italy (prior to training here in Boston at NESAD) and one can immediately see elements from both cultures which have informed her printwork here. Of course, with all these skeletal forms, one is reminded of Dia de Los Muertos imagery, but her utilization is highly adapted with personal symbology. In construction, the scenes owe much to ‘grotteschi’ as one finds in early European (esp. Italian) religious iconography. The traditional diatribes of the icons have been subverted by Naci and now serve personal meanings which speak, in particular, to the nature of boundaries, their absence, and the ineffable cycles of life. The very gothic beauty of these prints goes straight to work on our psyches, luring deep fish of the mind up to the surface to feed on exquisite corpseflesh. So come out for some ‘hors d’oeuvres’ and feast your eyes as well, tonight in Kendall Square.

Friday, 7-9pm // @Voltage Cafe 295 3rd St., Cambridge
Show runs May 4 – June 8