“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. His interactive robotic drawing installations have been presented at the NASA Ames Research Center, Stanford University, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Lab, Robert Berman E6 Gallery, the Seattle Next50 (Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Seattle Worlds Fair), and Zero1 San Jose. 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 reports’ “Trends Watch”. Foucault has received funding from the California Arts Council, Creative Work Fund, Watts Family Foundation, the City of San Jose Public Art Program, the City of Oakland’s Cultural Funding Program, US Bank, the Seattle Center Foundation, Puffin Foundation and the Zellerbach Family Foundation. Foucault has recently presented lectures at the Monterey Museum, Stanford University, City College, San Francisco University and the SETI Institute. 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 + Design magazine. He lives and works in Sacramento and Oakland, CA.
