In 1957 Pearce began painting in oils and started to exhibit regularly at the Penwith Gallery in St Ives. He became an Associate of the Penwith Society of Arts in Cornwall, and later a full member, having been sponsored by the sculptor Denis Mitchell. He is also a member of the Newlyn Society of Artists; it was at the instigation of Peter Lanyon that he had his first solo show at Newlyn Gallery in 1959.

As one of the country’s foremost naive painters, Pearce is well known for portraying the local St Ives landscape and still-life compositions in oil, conte, pen and ink, and pencil.In the early 1970s Pearce began to make small etchings with the assistance of fellow artists Breon O’Casey and Bryan Ingham, and later Roy Walker. Since 1976 a number of his oil paintings were made into limited edition screenprints in order to bring his distinctive images to a wider public.

In the early 1970s Pearce began to make small etchings with the assistance of fellow artists Breon O’Casey and Bryan Ingham, and later Roy Walker. Since 1976 a number of his oil paintings have been made into limited edition screenprints in order to bring his distinctive images to a wider public.

He always worked slowly, but consistently, producing perhaps twelve oil paintings a year. Often compared to Alfred Wallis, the late Peter Lanyon has said of him: “Because his sources are not seen with a passive eye, but are truly happenings, his painting is original.”

During his life, Bryan Pearce has exhibited throughout the country, including the New Art Centre, Victor Waddington Gallery and Stoppenbach & Delestre in London; Beaux Arts in Bath and the Oxford Museum of Modern Art. In St Ives he has showed at the Sail Loft Gallery, Wills Lane Gallery and the New Craftsman. Public Collections include: the Tate Gallery, the Arts Council, the Contemporary Arts Society and Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge.

After his death in 2007, a collection of nine watercolours, including some of the earliest works from the early 1950s, twenty-seven oil paintings, two pen and ink drawings, three conté crayon drawings and eleven etchings were given to the Royal Institute of Cornwall so that it could be accessible to members of the public in displays both in Cornwall and around the country.  The bequest also included a portrait of the artist by Jason Walker painted from life in 2005 and a bronze head made by the Australian sculptor Barbara Tribe in 1876.  

Sir Alan Bowness, one of Bryan’s Trustees and an executor of his estate, said: ‘Bryan was very aware of his Cornish ancestry, and proud of the fact that his family had always lived in St Ives. From an early date his mother, Mary Pearce, kept back some of his best pictures in the hope that they would eventually be given to the people of Cornwall for their enjoyment. Bryan’s Trustees and beneficiaries are delighted that this now substantial collection of his work has been accepted by the Royal Institution of Cornwall.’