Jan Vermeiren was born in Bornem, Belgium in 1949. From a very young age drawing was always an important way of expressing himself.
He began formal art training while still at school and later he studied full time at the Academy St Niklaas and the Academy of Mechelen and later at the National Hoger Institute in Antwerp.
As a student printmaking was his special interest, and it was only after moving to South Africa in 1976 that he became a painter.
He then became a lecturer at the Technical College for Advanced Education in Cape Town (1981–87) where he joined an artist group with Alfred Krentz, Marthinus la Grange, Erik Laubscher, Claude Bouscharain and Stanley Pinker
Although his ties in Europe are still strong he feels that his work is now more African in nature. His work is an expression not of outer reality but of the subconscious. It is this instinctive approach that gives his paintings their special dreamlike, spiritual quality. His images reveal a series of archetypal symbols derived from various ancient cultures, reflecting his belief that it is these ‘primitive’ symbols that unite man across time and different civilizations.
Jan Vermeiren is profile Member of the SAAA, Cape Town Branch and member of the South African Artists Guild.