Rooted in connection to Trinidad and Tobago – Nicholas Emery exhibits Magical Memory Place at Soft Box

After years of reflection and meditation on his place of birth and its people, artist Nicholas Emery is giving viewers a look at elements of his secrets, loss, and healing through his newest exhibition, Magic Memory Place.

It has been four years in the making, and Magic Memory Place is obviously a deeply personal collection of work.

Most of the 17 pieces can be described as quiet, with a singular focus, not at all busy, allowing viewers to concentrate on the subject of each piece.

Although quiet, the subjects are not placed on a blank canvas, devoid of other things to enjoy. Instead, he uses both bold and subtle colors, shades, and textures to his advantage.

Born in Trinidad to American parents who frequently traveled in the course of their work, Emery left Trinidad and Tobago at a young age.

He grew up in the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and European regions before settling in Colorado, US. Emery, 56, said he spent years trying to understand why he loves TT so much and why it is so important to him.

“I’ve been trying to understand the sort of tendrils or the arteries and veins that have connected me back to this place, and I think that it’s fairly common. This is something that, as Trinis, we talk about from time to time.

“I know I don’t sound like a Trini. I’m a dual citizen, but I have a familial connection here in Trinidad as well.

“I was in a state of real reflection. There was a lot of consideration about what I consider to be magic, memory, and place, how it relates to Trinidad and my own evolution as a human being and my relationships to both the people and the place. It caused me to go into this state of meditation.”

This meditation on TT led him to create works on topics which are “near and dear” to his heart, so much so that Magic Memory Place was the first exhibition in which he displayed self-portraits.

And since he described his creative process as intuitive, he said it was important for him to be in TT for part of that process, as the work is inspired by the country. So, while most of the pieces were painted in his studio in Denver, Colorado, the rest was done in TT since he arrived in January.

“I don’t just paint for painting’s sake. I’m pulling feelings out. I’m meditating. I won’t start painting unless there’s something – I’m feeling inspired, or there’s an idea I’m tossing around that I want to play with on the canvas, or I’m trying to process a certain set of feelings.

“This is just what comes out of me. To give myself too much credit as the architect would be disingenuous. I’m pulling from a portal that is open, and I’m blessed to be able to have this connection and energy that comes out of me. There’s something that happens. It’s weird. I’ll be in the studio and there’s a moment when I realize I’ve got something. And if you can maintain and encourage that, you might get something.”

Although Emery used to be known as a colorist earlier in his 31-year art career, his style has changed over the years.

But two pieces in Magic Memory Place, House of Dreams and Dialogue with the Past, are in styles he worked in previously.

In Dialogue with the Past, he used large, clear text to convey his feelings about a memory from a time he attended an Orisha ceremony with his wife, Emilie Upczak.

He said during the ceremony, one of the spiritual leaders called him into a small room and spoke to him about an unpleasant incident from his childhood, something the man could not have known about, and helped him heal from it.

The piece was his way of honoring the experience. House of Dreams is a painting of a friend’s house and the door of the bedroom. He said years ago he stayed at the house for a while and had the most amazing sleep and dreams. It was like magic.

Then there were three pieces, including a self-portrait, featuring different men with their index fingers pressed to their lips. He said the gesture could be interpreted as the viewer being silenced or being told there is a secret.

“Once a secret is told it’s no longer a secret. Or is it? Can that person hold the secret? And how many people can hold a secret?

“So that’s what I’m talking about here. Because I have a secret that’s quite profound and important to me about this place. And so I was looking for a way to visually describe that without writing text.”

Emery said while he loves many types and styles of art, his pieces are usually minimalistic and pared down into a simpler presentation. He tends to layer paint, sometimes using different shades of the same color, to create subtlety and depth.

The self-taught artist usually works in oil, pastel, and acrylic paints as well as pencil and charcoal. He also adds sand or other materials to the paint or scrapes off layers to add texture.

Magic connections

Emery told Sunday Newsday he felt he was neither American nor Trinidadian, as he did not attend school in either place, so neither culture was ingrained in him. Yet he considered himself both, even though recently, he felt better in TT than he did in the US, saying his spirit rested easier in this country.

“I do like to say that even though I was born here and I belong here, I’m an adopted son of sorts too.”

The first time he visited TT after he left as a child was in 2005. His parents had told him stories about his birth and about TT and, he wanted to see where he was born, as it had always captured his imagination. But when he arrived, the land and its people also captured his heart.

So Emery, a professional carpenter, arranged a job in the local construction industry, returned to the US, packed up his belongings, and returned to TT a year later. He was soon followed by Upczak, who was encouraged to become a filmmaker here and, eventually, the creative director of the TT Film Festival.

The couple lived in St Ann’s for ten years, during which time their son was born and spent his first eight years here. And it was here that Emery held his first public exhibition in 2009, followed by two more before the family left – all inspired by TT.

“At some point, I was balancing construction and art, and I was able to give myself over more to the art world. I was able to move away from construction and I sort of became a devotee of painting.”

Emery said the evolution of his art in TT inspired him to do more so he had applied to the Vermont College of Fine Arts and was accepted.

He graduated with an MFA degree in 2018 and went on to do several residencies in TT and the US. He was also awarded an Andy Warhol Foundation grant to create an art film based on a series of paintings he developed called The Controlled Wild. And, about a year ago, he started painting full-time, since it was what he believed he needed to do.

Magic Memory Place is being shown at Soft Box Gallery, St Clair, until April 20.