Peter Dobill
Born in New Zealand, Peter Dobill is a Brooklyn based actionist who has exhibited and performed internationally. He is a recent recipient of the 2008-2009 Franklin Furnace Fund For Performance Art Grant and co-founded and curates the Maximum Perception Performance Festival in New York City.
Artist Statement
My work focuses on the body in actions. In these actions, mental and physical planes of existence are created, establishing autonomy in endurance, physical movement, and structure. With my body, I alter and construct my vessel of experience, intrinsically connecting and emptying myself to a singular moment and time. Within these moments, I can then seek to communicate, focusing on energy exchanged between the audience and myself.
My practice is two-fold; live public actions performed for an audience and private actions performed for the camera. Both practices operate in complimentary forces, with actions relating in physical, structural, and conceptual intensity.
It is through my practice of actions that I look to establish a new direction for performance practice, one that provides a maximum perception of the senses through the complete conception of live and video elements.
Resume
Biography:
1982 Born Chirstchurch, New Zealand
1995-1998 Early College Program, School of the Art Institute, Chicago, IL
2004 BFA, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL
Lives in Brooklyn, NY / Studio in Brooklyn, NY
Selected Exhibitions:
SOLO
2009 PETER DOBILL: AB UNO, English Kills Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
GROUP
2010 English Kills: The Permanent Collection Vol. 1, English Kills Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY - Curator: Phoenix Lights
2009 Performance in Crisis, Exit Art, New York, NY - Curator: Papo Colo
2009 Fortress To Solitude: The Portrait Show, Beta Spaces, Brooklyn, NY - Curator: Guillermo Creus
2009 Performance Art Weekend, The Lot, Detroit, MI - Curator: Kathy Leisen
2009 GODS OF MARS, English Kills Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY - Curator: Christopher Harding
2008 Maximum Perception: Contemporary Brooklyn Performance, English Kills Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY - Curators: Christopher Harding & Peter Dobill
2007 Bodies Of/At Work, Nurture Art, Brooklyn, NY - Curator: Brian Balderstrom
2007 Bushwick Open Studios Group Show, English Kills Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY - Curator: Christopher Harding
2007 Pressure+Movement+Light, Grace Exhibition Space. Brooklyn, NY - Curator: Andrew Michael Ford
2006 Variety, CPS Gallery, New York, NY - Curators: Sang Su Lee & Andrew Michael Ford
2006 Transient Expression, Rockefeller University, New York, NY - Curators: Cai Qing & Andrew Michael Ford
2006 Black & White, Holland Tunnel, Brooklyn, NY
2005 Meditating America, Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, WA
Live Actions:
2010 Dobill Clean, Rob Andrews w/ Peter Dobill, Gowanus Studio Space, Brooklyn, NY
2009 Astral Navigation, Exit Art, New York, NY
2009 White Light, Open Realization Art Gallery, 10th Annual Open Art Performance Festival, Beijing, CHINA
2009 Crossing, The Lot, Detroit, MI
2009 Boxaction, Christian Center Sanctuary of Hope, Queens, NY
2009 The Circle and The Point, English Kills Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2009 Black To Light, English Kills Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2009 Receiver, English Kills Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2009 Sans Tete, Grace Exhibition Space, Brooklyn, NY
2008 Soleil, JAJO Art Gallery, Newark, NJ
2008 CUT/TIME, English Kills Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2008 Dimidiatus (For Don Pablo Pedro), Contaminate 3, Boston, MA
2007 Sweataction, Nurture Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2007 Drumaction, Ox-Bow, Saugatuck, MI
2007 Back Breaker, Ox-Bow, Saugatuck, MI
2007 Stone Walker, Ox-Bow, Saugatuck, MI
2007 Absolvor, English Kills Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2007 Exhaler, Grace Exhibition Space, Brooklyn, NY
2006 La Sal Cuece Al Horno, CAVE Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2006 Sodium Exhale, Gilded Pony Performance Festival, Troy, NY
2006 Ground Breather, Black Mountain Preserve, NY
2005 Heartaction, Black Box Gallery Space, Seattle, WA
2005 Anhalo Inhalo, ToJo Gallery, Chicago, IL
2004 Wateraction, Lake Michigan, Chicago, IL
2004 I'll Be Safe . . . , Artist's Studio, Champaign, IL
2004 . . . Lightbulb, Exhibition Space, Champaign, IL
2003 Hanging, Exhibition Space, Champaign, IL
2003 Matchsticks, Exhibition Space, Champaign, IL
Awards:
2008-2009 Franklin Furnace Fund For Performance Art Grant
Screenings:
2009 Blood Breather, Fountain Art Fair, Grace Exhibition Space Booth, Miami, FL
2008 Inhaler + Blood Breather, SCOPE - Hamptons, Nurture Art Booth, East Hamptons, NY - Curator: Brian Balderstrom
2006 Inhaler, Ephemeral Drift, Hun Gallery, New York, NY - Curator: Andrew Michael Ford
2006 Ground Breather, Open Zone XX @ Ocularis, Galapagos Art Space, Brooklyn, NY
Artist-In-Residence:
2007 Ox-Bow Artist Residency, Saugatuck, MI, Sept. - Oct.
2006 Studio S, CAVE, Brooklyn, NY, May - June
Performance Festivals:
2009 10th Annual Open Art Performance Festival, Beijing, CHINA
2008 Contaminate 3 Live Art Festival, Boston, MA
2006 Gilded Pony Performance Festival, Troy, NY
Curation:
2010 Guest Curator, Grace Exhibition Space, Brooklyn, NY
2009 Maximum Perception Performance Festival, English Kills Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY - Curators: Phoenix Lights & Peter Dobill
2008 Cat and Mouse: Philip Fryer + Sandrine Schaefer, Grace Exhibition Space, Brooklyn, NY - Curator: Peter Dobill
2008 Maximum Perception: Contemporary Brooklyn Performance, English Kills Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY - Curators: Christopher Harding & Peter Dobill
Bibliography:
2009 Vartanian, Hrag, "Bushwick Open Studios 2009 This Weekend, My Event Picks," www.hragvartanian.com, June 5,
2009 Dobill, Peter, "Peter Dobill - Actions 2003-2008," Self-Published, 68pg.
2009 Kalm, James, "Peter Dobill: Ab Uno at English Kills Art Gallery," www.youtube.com, May,
2009 Vartanian, Hrag, "Some Thoughts on Peter Dobill's "Sans Tete" (2009)," www.hragvartanian.com, April 8,
2009 Vartanian, Hrag, "Some NY Exhibitions Work a Look," www.hragvartanian.com, April 5,
2009 Vartanian, Hrag, "Reflecting on the Week," www.hragvartanian.com, April 4,
2009 Vartanian, Hrag, "Reflecting on The Week {2009-03-21}," www.hragvartanian.com, March 21,
2009 Vartanian, Hrag, "Peter Dobill, "Sans Tete" Action Performance (2009) (photos)," www.hragvartanian.com, March 21,
2009 Vartanian, Hrag, "Peter Dobill's New Action-Installation, "Sans Tete," at Grace Exhibition Space This Friday (Q & A)," www.hragvartanian.com, March 18, http://hragvartanian.com/2009/03/18/peter-dobill-sans-tete/
2008 Kalm, James, "Brooklyn Dispatches: Performance Anxiety," The Brooklyn Rail, November
2008 Short, Aaron, "Pushing Boundaries at English Kills," The Greenpoint Courier, August 22
2008 Vartanian, Hrag, "5 Performances Open Maximum Perception: Contemporary Brooklyn Performance," www.hragvartanian.com, August 18,
2008 Kalm, James, "Maximum Perception: Contemporary Brooklyn Performance at ENGLISH KILLS" www.youtube.com, August,
2005 Hackett, Regina, "Artists Muse on America With Mostly Positive Results," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Nov. 11
2004 Goguen, John Paul, "Duct Tape Art," Daily Illini, May 7