Enock Placide was born in 1947 in his family’s humble home in Dates, Gonaives, a province of Haiti. At the age of four he was struck by polio. He began painting when he was twelve and, after completing his high school education, emigrated to the USA where he obtained an associate degree in physics and a bachelor’s degree in abstract math. After completing post-graduate pre-med requirements and a year-long internship, he was granted a NY State Clinical Laboratory Science License.
During his professional career he painted continuously and participated in many cultural events, including the illustrations created with computer graphics for the documentary film Voyage of Dreams by Collis Davis in 1983 under the pseudonym Nemo. Since his retirement in 2013, he has used his time to put forty years of painting, research, and personal recollections into a book manuscript, two distinct 4D art installations, and accompanying essays pending rigorous scientific proof.
Voyage of Dreams
A documentary film by Collis Davis featuring Enock Placide’s pioneering computer graphics. The work was acquired by the film and video library collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1984.
People in the Field
oil on canvas – 52” x 70” – circa: 1977
This painting is part of the permanent collection at the CUNY Medgar Evers College.
Artistic Resumé
EXHIBITIONS, EVENTS AND COLLABORATIONS
2023 Boricua College, New York
2019 Special guest speaker at a conference on Haitian renaissance art organized by the Haitian Art society at Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington DC
2003 World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition by LMDC
2002 Caribbean Art Show, Gallery 1199/SEIU, Long Island, NY
2001 Kenkeleba House, New York, NY
1999 African American Museum of Nassau County, NY
1997 New World Art Center, NYC SoHo
1987 St Albans Family Life Center, Queens, NY
1986 Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Research library of the NYPL, NY
1985 A.R. Flowers’ “De Mojo Blues” book cover illustration. E.P. Dutton publishing company, New York, NY
1984 Special presentation for the acquisition of documentary film “Voyage of Dreams”, Museum of Modern Arts, New York, NY
1983 The premiere of newly completed animated works by leading New York artists and programmers, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Bruno Waler Auditorium, New York, NY
1981 “ARTISTS AGAINST RACISM” Westbeth Gallery, New York, NY
1980 Special exhibit of aspiring artists during the national democratic convention by the New York Urban League “35 UNDER 35”, Lever House New York, NY
1980 Cinque Gallery, New York, NY
1980 Henry Street Settlement House Gallery, New York, NY
1979 “Brooklyn ‘79” Juried exhibition of paintings and sculpture by living Brooklyn artists, Community Gallery of the Brooklyn Museum, NY
1979 “One Man Show” Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, Skylight Gallery Brooklyn,NY 1978 Brooklyn College student gallery, Brooklyn, NY
BROADCAST
WNET-TV/13, Premiere, Video/Film Review, October 1983, New York
WNYE-TV/25, Black Film Focus, February 1984, New York
WGBH-TV/2, Say Brother, March 1984, Boston
RAI-TV {Italian TV} Network One, Feature story on Voyage, shown on Prisma, June 1984, Rome WHYTV-TV/12, Special October 1984, Philadelphia
FESTIVALS, SCREENINGS, AND AWARDS
Blacklight Film Festival, July 1983, Chicago.
SIGGRAPH ‘83, Premiere Film and Video Program, October 1983, New York
Hemisfilm Festival, January 1984, San Antonio, Texas.
Global Village Video and Film Series, Real Vision (?), December 1983 New York.
27th San Francisco International Film Festival, Best Video Program (?), April 1984, San Francisco Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame Annual Competition, May 1984, Oakland
Amiens International Film Festival, November 1984, Amiens, France.
ARTEXPO, Premiere Electronic Arts Pavilion, April 1984, New York
The Museum of Modern Art, New Acquisition Screening, September 1984, New York
CONVERGENCE: “A Forum on the New Video/Film Technology”, December 1984, Montreal, Canada
CEBA (Communications Excellence to Black Audience) AWARD, Category: Independent Productions, October 1984, New York
REVIEWS
1979 “A photographic naturalness; we are impressed by schooled painterliness, command over perspective, not small and personal but in the trend of blow-ups.”
Rosalind R. Jeffries, PHD Art Historian Yale University graduate, New York SVA lecturer
1984 “This thoughtfully produced documentary provides warranted consideration of a people so close yet so remote to many in the United States. The talents of Davis, Cajuste and Nemo (Placide) have been joined together in the making of a remarkable and moving story”.
Barbara J. London Asst. Curator of the Museum of Modern Art.
1986 “Placide’s paintings are massive and detailed canvases that emphasize the links between generations.”
Ken Dossar IN Review, EM magazine
1999 “Some of the most outstanding and ambitious pieces are by Enock Placide, the one painter here who explores illusionistic as well as flat space. In large examples like “Mountaineers” and “Market Place No 2”, he combines delicate strokes and soft, nicely orchestrated tonalities with sun-drenched white light. In more complex, multi-unit paintings, Mr. Placide proves he can also star in a more visionary role. These are very original works that interweave spiritual, historical and symbolic imagery and seem to blend the characteristics of mural art with the best aspect of spiritualism”.
Phyllis Braff, Art Critic, The New York Times, Long Island Section, June 6, 1999
1999 “The greatest departure from the preconceived era is the oil paintings of Enock Placide. Mr. Placide’s exquisite brushstrokes and narrative style bland ancient and emotional references by using veil-like layers of blues and brown.”
New York Times Art and Review, Sunday, December 19, 1999
COLLECTORS OF PLACIDE’S WORKS INCLUDE:
President J B Aristide,
Prime Minister Lafontant,
Medgar Evers College,
Dr Lefevre,
Dr Camilien,
Dr Jacques,
Dr Mathurin,
Dr Bazile,
Dr Marino,
Ms. Atkinson,
Mr. Mitton,
Mr. and Mrs. King.