Peter Foucault: Tensions In Between

Cosmos 4

Cosmos 3

Cosmos 4

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 to 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.

His work has been featured in exhibitions at the Getty Museum and Getty Villa, Oakland Museum of California, Torrance Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts , Marine Contemporary, 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 (Los Angeles, CA).

Staccato Series 2

Staccato Series 2

Sun Burst I

In addition to his own practice, Foucault is the Co-Founder of the Mobile Arts Platform (MAP), a Bay Area-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 2012 annual “Trends Watch” report.

Foucault has received funding from the Creative Work Fund, the City of San Jose Public Art Program, the City of Oakland’s Cultural Funding Program, the City of Palo Alto’s Public Art Program, US Bank, the Seattle Center Foundation, the Puffin Foundation, and the Zellerbach Family Foundation. Foucault has recently presented lectures at Stanford University, City College, San Francisco University and the SETI Institute (Mountain View, CA).Foucault’s work has been reviewed in The San Francisco Chronicle, The SF Weekly (Pick of the Week), ArtWeek, Wired Magazine, Stretcher Magazine, and Artnet Magazine. In 2009 his drawing Four Square was featured on the cover of California Home and Design Magazine. Foucault’s work is represented by Room Art Gallery, (Mill Valley, CA), Karen Imperial Fine Art (San Francisco, CA), the SFMOMA Artists Gallery (San Francisco, CA) and is available through Restoration Hardware as part of their RH Modern line. He lives and works in Oakland, CA.

About

Foucault’s work has been reviewed in The San Francisco Chronicle, The SF Weekly (Pick of the Week), ArtWeek, Wired Magazine, Stretcher Magazine, and Artnet Magazine. In 2009 his drawing Four Square was featured on the cover of California Home and Design Magazine. Foucault’s work is represented by Room Art Gallery, (Mill Valley, CA), Karen Imperial Fine Art (San Francisco, CA), the SFMOMA Artists Gallery (San Francisco, CA) and is available through Restoration Hardware as part of their RH Modern line. He lives and works in Oakland, CA.