Pearce specialised in paintings of his home town, and the surrounding Penwith area, drawn in typically flat style, with areas of bright colour surrounded by heavy outlines, like stained glass. His learning disabilities gave his art, in the words of Peter Lanyon, an "awareness more direct" than pure observation. Lanyon also said that "Because his sources are not seen with a passive eye, but are truly happenings, his painting is original", and "It is necessary to accept these works as the labour of a man who has to communicate this way because there is no other." His art has been compared to that of Alfred Wallis.