(To view more of Haitian Girl (1804), click on the art)

Nazaire has formal training in fine art and design at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut, but remembers discovering his love for art during his years at Westhill High School in Stamford, Connecticut where a strong Haitian community existed at the time. He has exhibited in New York, Washington D.C., Fort Lauderdale / Miami, Florida, Houston, Texas, and Beverly Hills, California.

A Message From Nazaire (Naz)

I work mostly in oil pastels, mixed media, and acrylics. I enjoy oil pastels due to the fact that I get to blend the colors with my fingertips, I love the feel of being closer to and becoming part of what I create. I even find myself using my fingers while painting with acrylics on canvas now. I hope not to lose that connection with my art, even when it's sold to a client. I want it to always express who I really am.

My Style?
In most of my work I use bright vivid colors. Being Haitian plays a large role in this, but is that my style? I'm not sure, I'm still growing, learning and aging along with my craft. I am an artist and that is my what makes me me feel the most alive. My favorite artists are Jean-Michel Basquiat, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Lois Mailou Jones, Vincent van Gogh, Georges Seurat, Paul Gauguin, Renoir and many others. Most of all, I have a very long list of Haitian artists and African American artists that inspire me.

I am a Haitian Artist but my style is ever changing.

My dreams
I am still trying to find my way... I want to create art and I want to learn more. I dream about traveling to far away places with new cultures to learn from.

I was born in Haiti, but my art is not all Haitian. I have been floating among cultures while living in the U.S. I have been away from Haiti so long, I don't really feel I have a real identity to hold on to. Not that I really want one. That feeling of being lost sometimes allows me to take my art to places I would never think of... My art becomes is something I can mold into anything I desire, and that gives me the freedom to become someone new everyday.

Travel
I have a strong desire to get away from the normal everyday experiences around me. I want to travel.

I always wanted to go learn something completely different from my roots and Japan has always been that place. Japan is as different from Haiti, Africa, and America as one can get, and someday I will take that trip to Tokyo. The Japanese culture is very attractive to me and I would like to live and experience it.

I will always be Haitian and Haiti will always be part of me and I still want to always open myself to other ways of SEEING Art, Culture, and Life.

-Hertz Nazaire

View Art By Hertz Nazaire