This body of work is an exploration of memory—not as a fixed record, but as a living, shifting construct shaped by time, feeling, and imagination. The paintings draw upon fragments of personal experience, loosely stitched together to form narratives influenced as much by intuition and belief as by fact. They do not attempt to document the artist’s personal history, but rather to explore how memory influences their understanding of it.
Centred around pivotal human experiences, this series investigates the emotional and psychological textures that underpin each theme. These universal experiences are approached through the formal elements of colour, shape, and materiality, allowing each work to unfold as a visual meditation on memory’s elusive nature.
For much of his life, the artist held memories as truths—internal archives that could be returned to for clarity and continuity. But in revisiting them through the act of painting and research, he has come to see how malleable and selective those memories are. Memories are intangible fragments that fade, shift, and become distorted; they are reshaped by emotion, influenced by the present, and sometimes entirely fabricated without awareness.
In recognising this, the artist has begun to understand that personal narratives are not fixed stories, but evolving interpretations—subjective reconstructions that carry emotional weight rather than factual certainty. This body of work is, in part, a reckoning with that realisation. It reflects an ongoing dialogue between what is remembered, what is believed, and what is felt.
By embracing the ambiguity and imperfection of memory, the artist invites viewers not only to engage with these recollections, but also to reflect on the fragility of their own.
Artist Biography
Nicholas Pelekis (b. Athens, Greece) is an abstract expressionist painter based in Melbourne, Australia. Working primarily with acrylic on canvas, he is best known for exploring memory through colour, gesture, and texture. His paintings distil fragments of the past into layered abstractions, where shifting tones and marks create dialogues between personal and collective experiences, often blurring the boundary between the real and the imagined.
Pelekis’s visual language is informed by a diverse creative background. He began his career in Europe as a designer and senior art director, developing an acute sensitivity to composition, rhythm, and form across international campaigns. His experience in design continues to underpin his methodical approach to colour and structure on the canvas. Parallel to his practice, Pelekis has spent over a decade teaching design and art history—first in Asia, later in Australia—where he now balances education with his own studio work. He holds a Master’s degree in Design (Contemporary Art), which deepens the conceptual foundations of his practice.
His work has been exhibited nationally, with notable presentations at Brunswick Street Gallery and Red Gallery in Melbourne, and Liverpool Street Gallery and Light Square Gallery in Adelaide. Through abstraction, Pelekis invites viewers to consider memory not as fact, but as shifting narrative.
