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NEW YORK — Cynics who view pricey abstract art and scoff “a kid probably painted that” are finally right.

At just 12 years old, Xeo Chu is setting sales records with his colourful, abstract paintings, which are selling for more than US$150,000 and are being compared to works by reknown American artist Jackson Pollock.

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Now the seventh grade student from Vietnam is hosting his first solo exhibition, at the George Berges Gallery in Manhattan’s upscale SoHo neighbourhood. The exhibition titled Big World, Little Eyes, which opened on Thursday and runs through Jan. 2, comes years after the artist who started painting at age four made his first sale.

Photo by Shannon Stapleton / REUTERS

“One customer came and bought my painting and I was really happy. That was when I was like six. Yep,” Chu said.

Chu first picked up a paintbrush after begging his mother, who owns an art gallery in Vietnam, to allow him to paint with his older brothers.

For the New York exhibition, Chu created an unnamed 15-foot (4.5-metre) long, four-panel piece.