Untitled, oil paint on wall and marble (Exhibition view at Artissima 2017, represented by Galerie Greta Meert, Turin, Italy)

Pieter Vermeersch is an artist currently based in Brussels, Belgium. In his practice, Vermeersch capitalizes on colour and contrast, juxtaposing smooth gradients with more organic or geological textures and hues. 

Untitled, acrylic paint on wall, bricks (exhibition view at Blueproject Foundation, Barcelona, Spain)

I really enjoy the way Pieter elevates a monochromatic painting style by applying gradients of colour to large rectangular canvases. Like Italian painter Ettore Spalleti, Vermeersch’s paintings fade delicately from deep, saturated hues into pale, almost white tints at one end of the canvas. The result is smooth, almost futuristic, and quite visually opposite to the rough-edged panels and walls against which they are contrasted. 

It’s in gallery installations where Vermeersch’s work really shines -- the white cube space of the gallery format presents a blank canvas that is equally stark against both extremes of the artist’s works. In some cases, like Untitled, a recent exhibition at Blueproject Foundation in Barcelona, the artist creates his monochromes directly on the gallery walls, with the addition of rough brickworks serving as contrast.

Untitled, 33 tinted mirrors in ceiling (permanent site-specific installation at Ecole Chandieu, Genève, Switzerland)