Ghislain Pfersdorff
Born in 1964 in Strasbourg, France, I was the youngest of four siblings in a family deeply devoted to music and literature. I was first a listener—someone who observed quietly—and I expressed through drawing what could not always be conveyed through words.
Since creating my first watercolor paintings during adolescence, I have never stopped drawing and writing. My creative journey has continued across different places and moments: on airplanes, in ports of call during my years as a naval officer (from Toulon to Seoul, passing through Beirut, the Suez Canal, Sri Lanka, and Japan), and within sketchbooks discreetly kept inside my notebooks during meetings.
After going through a period of crisis when I believed I had lost everything, and after all external identities had been stripped away, I came to acknowledge that the essence of who I am has always remained that of a painter. Since then, I have given art the first place and the first hours of my life. Wherever I may be, I draw every day, continuing my practice of a “visual diary (agenda)” in which I record my inner states and reflections. Music and poetry remain my enduring sources of inspiration — from Rimbaud to Bach, from Hemingway to Gödel.
At the age of 62, I seek to affirm, through my own journey and conviction, the coherence of a lifetime devoted to artistic practice. What I present today is not a beginning, but the culmination of a continuous creative process that has been carried forward without interruption since my adolescence.
My artistic practice is entirely independent. I personally conceive, develop, finance, produce, and install my exhibitions and projects, while receiving the warm support and friendship of Gallery Pines in Seoul and Atelier Eberlin on Rue Servandoni in Paris (Karine Eberlin and Marc Vanderbosch).
HISTORY
Ghislain Pfersdorff
Born in 1964 in Strasbourg, France, I was the youngest of four siblings in a family deeply devoted to music and literature. I was first a listener—someone who observed quietly—and I expressed through drawing what could not always be conveyed through words.
Since creating my first watercolor paintings during adolescence, I have never stopped drawing and writing. My creative journey has continued across different places and moments: on airplanes, in ports of call during my years as a naval officer (from Toulon to Seoul, passing through Beirut, the Suez Canal, Sri Lanka, and Japan), and within sketchbooks discreetly kept inside my notebooks during meetings.
After going through a period of crisis when I believed I had lost everything, and after all external identities had been stripped away, I came to acknowledge that the essence of who I am has always remained that of a painter. Since then, I have given art the first place and the first hours of my life. Wherever I may be, I draw every day, continuing my practice of a “visual diary (agenda)” in which I record my inner states and reflections. Music and poetry remain my enduring sources of inspiration — from Rimbaud to Bach, from Hemingway to Gödel.
At the age of 62, I seek to affirm, through my own journey and conviction, the coherence of a lifetime devoted to artistic practice. What I present today is not a beginning, but the culmination of a continuous creative process that has been carried forward without interruption since my adolescence.
My artistic practice is entirely independent. I personally conceive, develop, finance, produce, and install my exhibitions and projects, while receiving the warm support and friendship of Gallery Pines in Seoul and Atelier Eberlin on Rue Servandoni in Paris (Karine Eberlin and Marc Vanderbosch).
HISTORY
Education
A parallel career in the cosmetics industry — providing the foundation for an independent artistic practice beyond market dependence
Lyon Business School, France, Graduated
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 Canopy, Atelier Eberlin, Paris, France
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
The Other Side, Gallery Pines, Seoul, Korea
Torching — Plattenhof Hotel, Zurich, Summer 2026.
50 works suspended in a circular arrangement with coral-colored silk cords and wax seals. A Möbius loop allowing viewers to pass through — a work exploring what burns and what remains afterward.
The Other Side – Die andere Seite
Ongoing project. A circular theater of painted panels for music, dance, and poetry. Rotating panels made from resonance wood for cellos, combined with immersive spatial sound.
Traces — A two-part installation, Atelier Eberlin, Paris, 2023.
Part I: My Memories
The artist's most intimate memories, written as two-line poems, are suspended from two monumental panels symbolizing day and night.
Part II: Our Mythologies
Inspired by Metamorphoses by Ovid.
“A poet must leave not proof, but traces. Only traces make us dream.” — René Char
Becoming — An installation inspired by Arthur Rimbaud's poem The Drunken Boat: a journey through color, music, language, light, and the senses.
Series: 25 Steps, Dive, and Calligraphic Studies.
Rakko – Kawauso — An ongoing series of haiku accompanying the artist's daily creative practice.
Helle, Mural, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Private Commissions, Paintings and custom series
WORKS
NEWS
VIDEO
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
The artist's most intimate memories, written as two-line poems, are suspended from two monumental panels symbolizing day and night.
Inspired by Metamorphoses by Ovid.
Becoming — An installation inspired by Arthur Rimbaud's poem The Drunken Boat: a journey through color, music, language, light, and the senses.
WORKS
NEWS
VIDEO