Untitled #1
re-purposed museum wall vinyl on MDF, 8"x6", 2021
Untitled #2
blown ink on vacuum molded PCV panels, 40"x40", 2022
During the pandemic I explored many new things. I learned how to make bread from scratch, started taking Martial Arts lessons and had daily existential breakdowns. The forces at play also influenced my way of making art and I began pursuing new avenues that I wouldn’t necessarily have exploring during normal times. With no audience in mind and endless hours in my studio, I began a process of free association between mediums and put the work I was creating up to that point under the microscope. Was it important to me? Was it still relevant? Was I making this with sales in mind? At one point I was pretty convinced I would quit making art altogether.
What resulted, I think, is a series of micro-bodies of work that sought to respond to individual ideas, mental constructions and social conditions. It is nice to finally bring all of these tangents together into one space so they can meet each other, have a conversation and hopefully find some peace.
Artist Bio
‘Foucault’s procedure connects his work with the Surrealist lineage of automatism, the chance-enamored strategies of Fluxus and oddities on the fringes of art such as Harold Cohen’s computer-generated drawings.’ -Kenneth Baker, San Francisco Chronicle
Peter Foucault creates works on paper, videos, and installations that are fueled by his love of drawing and mark making. He has created a series of Drawing-Projects, which utilize systems developed by the artist that produce complex abstract compositions. At the root of these projects is a constant tension between control and the loss of control. Viewer interactivity plays an integral part in his drawing installations, large-scale artworks in which participants influence the outcome of a drawing that is created by a small robot over the duration of an event or exhibition. His work is concept driven, and often utilizes objects that reference printmaking and multiplicities.
Foucault has participated in numerous exhibitions nationwide and internationally at venues such as the Getty Museum and Getty Villa, Oakland Museum of California, Torrance Art Museum, California Museum, San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, K. Imperial Fine Art, Room Art Gallery, Smithsonian Institutes’ Freer and Sackler Gallery, Kit Schulte Contemporary (Berlin, Germany), The University of Salford (Manchester, England), and The Orange County Center for Contemporary Art.
In addition to his own practice, Foucault is the Co-Founder of the Mobile Arts Platform (MAP), a Northern California based artmaking and curatorial team that creates interactive “pop-up” mobile exhibitions that directly engage the public. The MAP project was included in the American Association of Museums annual reports’ “Trends Watch”.
Foucault has received funding from the California Arts Council, Creative Work Fund, the City of San Jose Public Art Program, the City of Oakland’s Cultural Funding Program, US Bank, the Seattle Center Foundation, Puffin Foundation, Valley Medical Foundation and the Zellerbach Family Foundation.
Foucault’s work has been reviewed in People Magazine, KQED Arts, The San Francisco Chronicle, The SF Weekly (Pick of the Week), ArtWeek, Wired Magazine, KTVU Fox News, ABC 7 News, CBS Bay Area News, and Artnet Magazine. His drawing Four Square was featured on the Cover of California Home and Design Magazine. Foucault’s work is represented by K. Imperial Fine Art (San Francisco, CA). He lives and works in Sacramento, CA.