Pierre Vermeulen
South African 1992-
Hair Orchid Sweat Print, Blue
signed, dated 2022 and inscribed with the title on the reverse
sweat, gold leaf imitate, shellac and acrylic on Belgian linen
150 by 100 by 4cm, unframed

"Presently my studio practice has three main concerns: material lead transformation, open signifiers in a field of absolute relation, immersion, embodiment, and the mechanism of consciousness. My studio practice is rooted in meditation, a practice of embodiment. The present lot is from my ongoing hair orchid sweat print series, which is oxidations on gold leaf imitate, presented on linen. The oxidations occur by using orchids, sculpted from hair, dipping them in sweat, and placing them on gold leaf imitate overnight. I collect my sweat from hot yoga, also an embodied practice. In some areas, the oxidation burns through the gold leaf imitate and reveals the colour that I painted underneath the gold. I use gold leaf imitate for its sensorial reflective, and its temporal oxidational properties. There is a certain sense of meditative presence when standing in front and acknowledging one's vague reflection. As the work is rooted in meditation and practices of embodiment, I was thinking of thoughts thinking themselves. How our thoughts merely come and go. They are unfolding that happen by themselves. So too, the process of making this work echoes this sensibility of something that happens by itself. When collisions with the body occur, thoughts think themselves, sweating sweats, hair sheds, oxidations oxidise and reflections reflect. It's about the temporal encounters of the body and the becoming aware thereof." - Pierre Vermeulen, 2022.