Artists

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.

In 2025, Vermeulen presented Bidden or Unbidden, Enter the Hot Dream (2025) at WHATIFTHEWORLD x Krone gallery in Tulbagh, Cape Town, and participated in various presentations with WHATIFTHEWORLD gallery, Cape Town, South Africa; at Artissima, Art Cologne, Art Abu Dhabi, miart, and with Prometeo Gallery at miart, Milan. Vermeulen also took part in the group exhibition: Of their time (7), A Look at Private Collections (2023) at the museum Frac Grand Large in Dunkerque, France.

Selected solo exhibitions in Cape Town include Formats for Transition (2023) with Reservoir Projects, Thoughts Think Themselves (2021), a solo exhibition in culmination of his Master’s presentation, an Artist Room (2020), Of Itself (2018) in Johannesburg, and Pierre Vermeulen (2017). Selected group exhibitions in Cape Town include Matereality (2020) at Iziko South African National Gallery, A Show of Solidarity (2020) at SMAC Gallery, held in support of the South African Solidarity Fund during a nationwide enforced lockdown, Forward! Forward? Forward…(2019) at the Stellenbosch University Museum in Stellenbosch, Folly (2017) at SMITH, and Restore (2016) at the Gallery University Stellenbosch (GUS), Stellenbosch. In 2018, Vermeulen presented a solo booth at Artissima in Turin, Italy, and his works have since been included in various group presentations, including Contemporary Istanbul. Pierre Vermeulen’s work was recently selected for the prestigious Pinakothek der Moderne PIN benefit auction.