* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
Tim Vermeulen received an MFA from University of Illinois, Chicago in 1986. Prior to that he studied at Calvin College in Michigan.
His small paintings are figurative and often autobiographical narratives. Formally self-portraiture, these narratives are all based on well-known stories and literature, such as Dante’s Inferno and Homer’s The Odyssey.
Mixing familiar myths with modern and often unsettling circumstances, Vermeulen personalizes these myths and defamiliarizes the viewer. ‘Objects, settings, and human interactions carry symbols of the subconscious,’ he says.
Vermeulen transfers these ancient themes onto a contemporary context and settings to address issues that are either personal, social, political, religious, or all of the above. His aim is to combine memories that are collective with his own personal states of mind.
His work has been exhibited across the United States.