Vlad
Pocol

Vlad Pocol is a Swiss multidisciplinary artist born in Fribourg, Switzerland, in 1992, currently living and working between Paris and Riyadh. Working across painting, sculpture, and textile installation, his practice explores displacement, material accumulation, and the construction of territory through densely layered surfaces that evoke both personal memory and collective geography.

Marked by a heritage shaped by Romanian political exile and Levantine ancestry, Pocol initially pursued a career in law, earning degrees from the University of Fribourg, the University of Geneva, and the University of Zurich before serving as a judge in Switzerland. In 2023, he transitioned fully into artistic practice, bringing with him a rigorous conceptual framework informed by questions of identity, migration, and permanence.

His distinctive visual language emerged from an accidental destruction of a painting, which he reworked using an oyster knife, an event that became foundational to his process. Since then, his work has developed through acts of excavation, layering, and reconstruction, transforming surfaces into topographic landscapes charged with material density and emotional resonance.

Recent solo exhibitions include Curated at One at One Za’abeel, Dubai (2025), developed in collaboration with Aerlume Art as the second edition of the program following an inaugural presentation by Diana Al-Hadid, and From Roots to Vision. A Migration. at Ahlam Gallery, Riyadh (2024), supported by the Embassy of Switzerland in Saudi Arabia.

His work has also been presented during Frieze Week at Loisir Gallery in Los Angeles, and is held in institutional collections including the Sigg Art Foundation and the SICA Foundation in Switzerland, as well as private and royal collections across the Middle East, Europe, and the United States.

Selected press features include L’Officiel UK, The Zenith Magazine, Arab News, and ArtDayME.