Hertz Nazaire
With
influence from the shores of his native Haiti to his admiration
for the masters that came before, Hertz Nazaire creates art from
the joy and pain of living. Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, he migrated
to the United States at the age of ten and settled in Brooklyn,
New York. Hertz discovered his love and talent for painting while
in high school and further pursued his educational studies in fine
arts and designs at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, Florida
and the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Life for Hertz has been extremely challenging, as he has struggled,
since birth, with sickle cell anemia. “Though I feel at times
that I'm drowning in pain, I struggle on
to break surface somehow, to find that I can stick to my vision
for a life full of happy promises despite the agony of my pain.”
His illness would eventually cause him to temporarily stop painting
and loose most of the vision in his right eye. Despite this, Hertz
continued to paint. As a sickle cell disease advocate, Hertz is
notably known throughout the world for his “Sickle Cell Series”
comprised of three paintings expressing living and coping with chronic
pain.
As an artist, Hertz is still evolving and learning his craft. Working
in oil pastels, mixed media and acrylics, he particularly enjoys
blending the many bright colors of oil pastels he uses with his
fingertips. He loves the feel of being closer to and becoming part
of what he creates. His work has been exhibited in museums, galleries,
and hospitals across the United States and in London. The talent,
courage, perseverance and spirituality of Hertz Nazaire are pillars
of strength we can all learn to lean on.
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