Peter Kalisch
Artist’s Quote
This post-postmodern culture ultimately makes our bodies docile. Through vulnerability, we can transcend our own physical limitations and egotistical desires.
Luminary’s Quote
Bottom line, if people don’t say what they believe, those ideas and feelings get lost. If they are lost often enough, those ideas and feelings never return. – David Wojnarowicz
Wojnarowicz, David. Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration. New York: Vintage Books, 1991.
Bio
I am a 25 year old visual/performance artist based in Los Angeles, CA. From my immediate observation, our culture engages in a type of decadence, one that implies the impending fall of Western civilization. My work attempts to point light to the condition we are living in, the postmodern condition which has resulted in a particular type of disconnection; from shared values, lived intimacy, from actual human connection, and primarily, from our physical bodies. My relationship to performance as a medium comes from the cathartic nature of reconnecting with my physical vulnerability after a lifetime of upbringing in a first-world capitalist environment. My work is often extremely critical of idealizations, both from past and present, as well as the nepotistic, hypocritical nature of high art institutions. In these institutions, I witness a desire to project a sort of philanthropic public image, without truly engaging in the work necessary to push culture forward. Using common cultural signifiers and art historical samples, I attempt to bring light to these double standards which I commonly witness when engaging in the art world. My work is an attempt at self-awareness and criticality, an encouragement to others to remove themselves from the pattern of self-victimization which is so apparent in our society. I promote authenticity, vulnerability, honestly and freedom, with an often political and philosophical edge.