Showcasing his art at the library

Alix Pierre won his first art competition in 1977 — the Children of The World’s Art Competition in Jerusalem — as a student when he was growing up in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti.

He repeated this win a year later when he entered the same competition, that year held in China, and received a winning certificate and a gold medal.

“I didn’t give it much thought and value because I was a child,” Pierre, 62, said. “They gave me the paper and I was happy to have a celebration at my school.”

Now, Pierre continues to make his art and is showing 37 of his pieces in the East Meadow Library through the end of October.

Pierre describes his work as fantasy realism, meaning that the art displays ingenious designs, thoughts, or inventions that are conceptualized realistically.

“Everything that I see I include some kind of fantastic aspect of it,” he said. “I add something imaginary, something that does not exist, or something that no one has created.”

All of Pierre’s art is made using oil, acrylic, pencil, and charcoal, and come on different canvas sizes. Some hanging up at the library are 11-by-14 and others are 36-by-48. There are pieces including architectural sketches, vibrant landscapes, dreamscapes, and even crypto.

“I just love his work,” Jude Schanzer, the director of public relations and programming at EMPL said. “I tried to think of what his art is, is it realism, is it surrealism, it’s just Alix Pierre.”

Schanzer said Pierre has done both juried art shows and solo art shows at the library, even winning the East Meadow Invitational Art Show in 2011.

“It is very meticulous. It is very detailed,” Schanzer said. “It is extraordinarily detailed, and the pieces are huge.”

Pierre said that when he came to America in 1983, he didn’t know very much English, so he took his time before getting an education. He graduated with a degree in graphic design from the Pratt Institute in Manhattan in 2007, but realized later that graphic design wasn’t his passion.

“I’m not the kind of guy who’s going to try to do things that I don’t feel happy with,” Pierre said. “Graphic design just wasn’t my passion.”

As soon as he realized painting was his passion, he decided to dedicate his life to doing it.

“I have to give it all I have,” he said, adding that he works on his paintings almost seven days a week for nearly 18 hours a day. “Twenty-four hours is not enough for me.”

One of his favorite paintings, titled “Buddah Temple,” was started in 2007 and wasn’t finish until 2021. “That’s the way I work,” he said. “My work is never finished, most of it takes years.

If I’m not satisfied. I believe no one will be satisfied.”

Pierre has shown his art at other libraries, like the Jericho Public Library, and has shown in the city, the East Hampton Fair, and the Nassau County Museum of Art in Roslyn.

Growing up in Haiti did play a role in his painting, Pierre said. A lot of his work features the mountains and beautiful trees from his homeland.

“When looking at my work, I want people to see my ability,” he said. “I want them to see the time and dedication it takes to finish one piece of artwork.”

Pierre said he hasn’t sold that many of his paintings because of how attached he gets to them, but he likes making them available to anyone.

On his website alixfinearts.com, there are prints or originals for sale.

“Of course I’m doing this so people can appreciate my art,” he said. “The idea is to make it available for all kinds of folks.”