PETER FOUCAULT

Peter Foucault is a multi-media artist who creates self-perpetuating systems responding to elements of chance. This investigation has led to the incorporation of robotics, biological medium and climatic factors such as the wind and rain into his body of work. 

His artwork has been included in numerous east and west coast exhibitions and was recently shown at the Freer and Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian Institute, Galeria Galou in New York, and the Portland Art Center. In 2005 a collaborative project with German artist Hans Winkler was acquired by the Getty Institute and placed in their artist book collection.

Peter received an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, a BA in art history and a BFA in printmaking from the University of Washington. He lives and works in San Francisco.

Artist Statement

Over the last few years I have been creating works on paper, sculptures and installations that are fueled by my love of drawing and mark making.

In my current body of work I have created a series of “drawing-projects” that produce complex abstract compositions, and videos that reference the act of drawing. At the root of these projects is a constant tension between control and the loss of control. My work is concept driven, and I often utilize objects that reference printmaking and the multiple.

For Novus + Neos at Micaela Gallery, I am showing a series of  “cut-out drawings” titled Dangerous Shapes: Composites. The pieces are created by using a razor blade to excavate the lines within the drawing, separating them from the paper itself. The image is constructed by compositing layers of detailed “cut-outs” between sheets of Plexi-glass. The imagery presented references internal cellular systems, the futuristic style of 1960’s design, and the fluid line-work in graffiti lettering.

A video piece titled Future Fortress is shown in conjunction with the Dangerous Shapes: Composites. The structure shown in the video was created from the paper remnants cast aside while creating the “cut out drawings”. Two other videos are on display tilted Robot Drawing Dog and One Liner which investigate the process of drawing through the use of robotics and language.

Tall Tales are works are primarily influenced by maps and topographical schematics.

Since I am surrounded by antique maps at the gallery that I work at, I've really gotten interested in not only in the  historic  importance of maps but also their political and social significance. Since vast portions of the world  was being mapped for the first time in the 16th cent. there was an enormous land grab by countries that were often at odds with each other to acquire the most new territory. This signified power and expanded their empires in terms of land, natural resources and manpower. Through warfare and treaties these new territories often changed hands multiple times, and by the time a map was published the information would already be out of date. The maps themselves would often be altered by the cartographer for political means, and landscape features would either be exaggerated  or excluded all together.

I see the "Tall Tales" series as images of micro-topographies, isolated sections of a map where a history has occurred, but the details have either been forgotten, mythified or intentionally changed. The title for this series alludes to this notion.

Throughout this series I have utilized an iconic key of identical groupings of patterns and marks, but no information as to what they signify. I also see these as components in a narrative that carries over from drawing to drawing to create a contextual fabric throughout the series. These similar marks also reference the key of a map, in which certain standardized patterns represent things like mountains, rivers, roads, etc.

The element of chance plays a great hand in the process of making these. I start off by dropping a large blot of ink (or paint) in the middle of the paper and shake it horizontally and vertically to create the thick black lines in the composition. When the ink (or paint) is still fluid I also go back in and blow it across the page to create the smaller lines. I see this synonymous to charting a map for the first time in a newly discovered imaginary landscape.

Solo Exhibitions

2007          Outside Forces, Blankspace Gallery, Oakland, CA

Draw!, Frankee Uno Salon and Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2006          Outline, Print Zero Studios, Seattle, WA

2005          Overdrawn, Crucible Steel Gallery, CELLspace, San Francisco, CA

2004          Publish or Perish, Installation at the Design Pavilion, San Francisco, CA

                 Drawn In, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA

                 In The West, Still Lights Gallery, San Francisco, CA

                 Generations, Still Lights Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2001          Automatic Response, the Nation Gallery, Seattle, WA

 

Group Exhibitions

2007

Art Now Fair (Showing with Micaela Gallery), Miami, FL

The Gun Show, Root Division, San Francisco, CA

Tall Tales (2 person show), Micaela Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Printzero Studios Print Exchange#5, Sev Shoon Art Center, Seattle, WA

Artists Go Lightly, Temporary Autonomous Museum, San Francisco, CA

Salon D’Ete, Micaela Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Mission Creek Music and Arts Festival, The Lab, San Francisco, CA

Body of Work, Works San Jose, CA

Yuri’s Night Bay Area 2007, NASA Aimes Research Center, Mountain View, CA

Novus + Neos (New work + New artists), Micaela Gallery, San Francisco, CA

FREEDM, Noise Pop Festival opening exhibition@ Mezzanine, San Francisco, CA

2006

Anti/Social, Mission 17 Gallery, juried show, San Francisco, CA

Mind Strata: The Collision Point, Works San Jose, CA

Printzero Studios Print Exchange#4, University of Florida

Printzero Studios Print Exchange#4, Sev Shoon Art Center, Seattle, WA

Printzero Studios Print Exchange#4, Basil Howard Gallery, Portland, OR

The Grotesque Sublime, Kitchen Distribution Gallery, Buffalo, NY

Printzero Studios Print Exchange#4, Old Inlet Printmakers, Homer, AK

The Art of Tea, Cricket Engine Gallery, juried show, Oakland, CA

Empirical Nostalgia, Million Fishes Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Boredom: I Learned it by Watching You, Portland Art Center, OR

Mind Strata: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Sex, The Garage, CA

Mind Strata: Office Dreams, 2001 Broadway, Oakland, CA

Art SF 5th Anniversary Show, ArtSF Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Rundgang, Staedelschule Academy of Art, Frankfurt, Germany

2005

AAF Contemporary Art Fair, New York, NY

Postcards from the Edge, Benefit for Visual Aids, Robert Miller Gallery, NY

Paper Cuts-Again, Fetterly Gallery, juried show, Vallejo, CA

MFA Show, SFAI, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA

Third Annual Juried Show, Galeria Galou, Brooklyn, NY

California Black and White, Cabrillo Gallery juried show, Aptos, CA

Artist Book Show, Walter McBean Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute

Say What!, ArtSf Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2004

AD-HOC, Crucible Steel Gallery, Cell Space, San Francisco, CA

Art Out Loud, ARTSF Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Snap to Grid, Los Angles Center for Digital Art, Los Angles, CA

Skyways of Tomorrow, Oakland Airport, NASA design collaboration, Oakland,CA

CCA+SFAI, Play Space Gallery juried show, California College of Art

Out Source, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA

New Natures, Swissnex, Gallery of the Swiss Consulate, San Francisco, CA

Off-Site, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA

Small Works, Swell Gallery at the San Francisco Art Institute         

2003

Autofocus, Freer and Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian Institute, juried show, Washington, DC

Fats Famous, Swell Gallery at the San Francisco Art Institute, juried show

Gene Carnival, Swell Gallery at the San Francisco Art Institute

Sign:Language, Swell Gallery at the San Francisco Art Institute                    

 

Programs and Grants

2004

Board of Trustees, Student Representative, San Francisco Art Institute

NASA Space Program teaching grant, San Francisco Art Institute

Collaborative project with RIGO 04, San Francisco Art Institute

Inclusion of work in the Education Panel of Southern Graphics, Rutgers University

2001-03

Teaching Grant, University of Hawaii, Manoa   

2002

Independent study, George Pompidou Center, Paris France

2000

Merit award, University of Washington

 

Gallery Representation

2005-7       SFMOMA Artists Gallery

2007          Micaela Gallery, San Francisco

 

Collections

2007          John Green, Alamo, CA

2005          The Getty Institute, Artist Books Collection, Los Angeles, CA

 

Published Material, Reviews

2007

The San Francisco Chronicle, “Foucault’s Robots”, Kenneth Baker, 9/29/07

Stretcher Magazine, “Tall Tales”, Stephanie Ellis, October 2007

Wired Magazine Online, “Robots Offer Lesson in Abstract Expressionism”, Rob Beschizza, 4/17/07

Crave.com, “Gadget Report from Yuris Night @ NASA”, Donald Bell, 4/16/07

Ubergizmo.com, “Drawing Robots Draw People”, 4/16/07

ArtBusiness.com, “Novus+Neos”, Alan Bamberger, 1/5/07

ArtBusiness.com, “Draw!”, Alan Bamberger, 2/24/07

2006

ArtSpan Open Studios Catalog, “Home Grown Galleries”, Amee LeDuc, 10/06

Elle Decore Magazine, Conrad Drapery Advertisement, August 2006

Portland Art.net, “Boredom I Learned it by Watching You”, Jeff Jahn, 4/21/06

2005         

Artweek, “Papercuts (again)”, Jordan Essoe, November 2005

ArtBusiness.com, “Overdrawn”, Alan Bamberger, 8/3/05

Block Magazine, “Thirteen Artists, One Galeria Galou”, Rachel Hyman, 6/24/05

The Cabrillo Voice, “Black and White, an exciting exhibition comes to Cabrillo,” Elana Abeles, 4/13/05

Register-Pajaronian, “Seeing things in Black and White”, Richard Bennett, 3/18/05

2002         

Television interview on Fox Cable Network, Honolulu, Hawaii

2001         

Bricolage Magazine, Issue 18, 2001, University of Washington Press

1999         

The Stranger, The Stranger Suggests, August 19 issue

 

Curatorial Projects

2007         

The Gun Show, Root Division, San Francisco, CA, November 2007

I Walked Through Seven Sad Forests, Ping Pong Gallery @ the Garage: Part of the Garage Biennale 2007, August 2007

 

Lectures

2007          Visiting Artist, Root Division, San Francisco, CA

2004          Visiting Artist, Napa Valley College, CA

                 SFAI representative, College Preview Day, Los Angles, CA

                 SFAI representative, College Preview Day, Austin, TX

 

Education

2000          BFA - Printmaking                 University of Washington

                 BA - Art History                                 University of Washington

2001-03     Graduate Studies                  University of Hawaii, Manoa

2005          MFA - Printmaking                San Francisco Art Institute