Five-year-old art prodigy Aelita Andre commands prices as high as US$12,900 (NZ$16,000) in her latest exhibition.

Her solo show Aelita Andre: Secret Universe, at the Agora Gallery in New York, features 22 works.

Her work has been described as bright, vivid and playful and has been compared to major abstract artist Jackson Pollock.

"I like all colours, even grey and even black and even white," she said. "But the most colour I like is red and blue and green ... and also silver and gold."

She likens her pictures to space, kind of. "They look like space and they're not real and they're not realistic. They're like space and they don't look really, really much like space ... they look abstract."

While she earn enough to be considered the world's youngest professional artist, she retains a child's sense of fun and wonder.

Asked if she liked toys, she said: "Yes, if they're unicorns yes I do ... but unicorns are the best creatures ever. I love them."

Angela Di Bello, Director of Agora Gallery, said Aelita's work bridged the gap between the abstract and the real.

"The paintings are basically abstract expressionist drippings and very painterly strokes," Di Bello said.

"And then she kind of makes sense of her universe, not so secret anymore, but her universe in that she then includes animals, fairies, butterflies, insects and so that's where she is bridging the gap between the two. So I feel that she is an abstract expressionist slash surrealist."

She sold all her pieces in a week in her 2011 show.

- © Fairfax NZ News