Pierre Vermeulen

New Exhibition

Selected Works

Pierre Vermeulen was born in 1992 in Stellenbosch, and currently lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa. He obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2015 and Masters in Visual Arts in 2021 from the University of Stellenbosch.

Pierre Vermeulen’s artistic practice explores the unconscious, myth, and ritual, drawing on ancient philosophical traditions and meditation to engage with spirituality and symbolism. His process involves repetitive rituals that merge meditation, performance, and alchemy, using materials like imitation gold leaf, human hair, sweat, and casts of ex-voto to create both aesthetic and conceptual imprints through oxidation. These works, often incorporating metals like gold leaf imitate and silver leaf imitate reflect the junction of the sacred and the profane, examining dualities such as light and dark, masculine and feminine, and the internal and external realms. Through his use of ritual and symbolism, Vermeulen invites reflection on the human need for meaning beyond orthodoxy, while reconciling opposing forces like chaos and order in search of balance.