With aspirations of his artwork to one day be displayed in galleries and to gain worldwide recognition, an Essequibo teen is on a journey to break barriers through his paintings.
For Alex Blair, painting is the expression of his ideas and emotions and he decided to find bravery through expressing himself this way.
Alex, also known as Flexx, 18, started painting at the tender age of eight.
“I remember I always had a brush, pencil, or pen and I was always drawing or painting something,” he candidly recounted.
He added, “At a very young age I realised that I had the ability and skill to do drawing from observation and I started by drawing my childhood toys and other objects.”
Alex, who attended the Leonora Secondary School, said that his inspiration came from his parents Cindy and Sharrod Blair who have always motivated and supported him with his dreams.
It did not take long for Alex to realise that he wanted to be an artist and he painted his first Oasis at the age 15. That painting, he said, was given praise by his classmates and teachers.
He also credited his childhood rivals in school, Shanice Wilson and Seon Babb, who were in his art class during his secondary school life.
The teen added that Babb and Wilson were very competitive and that caused him to push harder to succeed.
At one point, he was even named the best performer for visual arts in Region 3. And he expressed that this achievement brought him much joy and pushed him to remain focused and humbled.
Alex explained that he learnt how to use his art to express himself and over the years he fine-tuned his artistic voice. In an interview with this publication, Alex spoke fondly about one of his paintings called the ‘Dream World.’
In this painting, there is a tree which appears to be withered under the darkness; the darkness, he said, is the negative effect of the world. Then there is a flourishing tree under the light, which he said is the positive effect of the world.
He noted that the painting was done from his imagination of heaven and hell. The painting, according to him, represents the thin line between righteousness and unrighteousness and heaven and hell.
Meanwhile, his professional future goal would be to make his work known to the world. He knows that the road ahead is tough but he is determined to leave his mark.
“Art in general is underappreciated mainly because I think the artist isn’t getting the praise that he or she deserves for their talent that they bring forward to the table,” he said.
His advice for other young people is to stay focused, be humble, and to work hard for whatever is desired.
The young man, who lives a quiet and comfortable life, said he believes that his personal key to success would be rising to challenges. “If I can’t do something then challenging myself to complete a task that has never been done before and then achieving glory at the end, that’s the key,” he said.
