Peter Max Lawrence (born March 19, 1977, in Topeka,

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

) is a multidisciplinary contemporary artist, as well as performance artist, curator, filmmaker, and film director. He is known to work in painting, video installation, sculpture, photography and drawing. Lawrence has had art exhibitions in galleries throughout the United States and Europe. He has lived in San Francisco and

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

Early life

Lawrence was born in

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ; Kansa language, Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the Capital (political), capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the County seat, seat of Shawnee County, Kansas, Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the ...

in 1977, and was adopted soon thereafter by Barbra and Dennis Lawrence. He was raised in Western Wyandotte County in Kansas where he attended St. Patricks, Bishop Ward and Kansas City Kansas Community College. He has identified as being gay, which has influenced his art. Lawrence received his B.F.A. in 2009 in new genres from the

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...

(SFAI). He received the CAAC fellowship in 1999 and the Garber Grant in 2001. While he was a student, he worked under artist Ian McDonald at a De Young museum artist residency and they produced a film for the ''Truly CA'' series. He relocated to

, and seven years later to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

to take up performance, film and video art. He lived and worked in California for 15 years.

Career

His discography includes such music as ''Banana Blues'', ''On Your Own Time'', ''Queer from Kansas'', and ''The Media''. One of his early showings of his art was ''The Man Who Was Too Loud'' (2001) at the

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of the ...

Public Library A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants. There are ...

, about coming out publicly as gay. It was followed later in 2001, by a showing in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. Lawrence also was in the art exhibitions, ''The Indelible Sulk'' (2013) a solo art installation at ''Mission: Comics and Art'' in San Francisco;' ''Ungodly: The Spiritual Medium'' (2020) a group exhibition at Oregon Contemporary gallery in Portland, Oregon; and ''At War'' (2012) with Truong Tran at SOMArts in San Francisco (as part of a curatorial residency).. Lawrence was the third artist in residence for

Kalup Linzy Kalup Linzy (born July 23, 1977) is an American video and performance artist who currently lives and works in Tulsa, OK. His performance are characterized by their low-tech quality, themes of community, socializing, family, the church, sexuality a ...

's project Queen Rose Art House in tandem with Tulsa Artist Fellowship (2023

Collaborations

Paper Waster Press was a collective project with Lawrence, he first engaged with Amy Whitehead, and later with Nico Peck; the duos collaborations continued until 2011. Lawrence was part of, ''The Cries of San Francisco: Saturday Market #2'' (2011), a group project by Allison Smith at Southern Exposure, San Francisco, California. Lawrence was part of the art event, ''Breaking My Spell'' (2011) at Reykjavik Culture Night, Reykjavik, Iceland; working with fellow SFAI students Michelle Morby, Kirk Wilder, Jenalee Harmon, and Melkorka Helgadottir.

Performances

Live performances include collaborations and a trilogy of performances in Athens, Greece, that were the cumulative work of an extended residency at Sub Rosa Space including ''Beyond Say: An American in Athens'' (2018), ''The Umpire Strikes Back'' (2018), ''Return of the Yeti'' (2018). Lawrence performed, ''I Miss America'' (2018) at CHEAPArt gallery in Athens. Lawrence performed ''Whimper'' (2014), The Stud bar in San Francisco. He performed at ''4WAVES: 40 Performances for the Hole'' (2019) in the group event in San Francisco.

Filmography

Lawrence has also directed music videos such as Krystle Warren's, ''I've Seen Days'' and ''On that First Day of Autumn;'' Carletta Sue Kay's, T''he Lady and the Creature From the Black Lagoon'', ''For the Birds'', and ''Just Another Beautiful Boy;'' Pookie and the Poodlez's, ''go go away from me;'' and The Centauros featuring AL-V, ''Calavera'' in Barcelona, Spain. * ''Glitter'' (2005) *''Negative Space/Jane Sommerhauser'' (2006) *''Poor Pandora'' (Spring 2008) *''Something to Trade'' (2008) *''Queer in Kansas'' (2008), an autobiographical film. * ''Warholics'' * ''De Young'' (2017), an experimental documentary as part of the ''Truly CA'' series,

Curator

* 2019 – THE ONE * 2015 – ''Lid Off Film Festival'', alongside the Grassroots Art Center, Lucas Area Community Theater, Lucas, Kansas * 2014 – The News with Kolmel WithLove at SOMArts, San Francisco, California

References

External links

*
Absolute Arts reviews of Peter Max Lawrence
*
Learning to Love You More: ''Hard Drive to Heaven''Monologging - Ghost ConferenceThat Name - Miranda JulyOregon Contemporary - UngodlyVertical GalleryWhy Peter PaintsSOMArts San Francisco - At War
*https://www.queenrosearthouse.org/residencies {{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, Peter Max 1977 births Living people Artists from Topeka, Kansas American performance artists Bisexual male actors Bisexual male artists Bisexual male musicians Artists from California American LGBT film directors American bisexual actors American bisexual artists American bisexual musicians Pacific Northwest artists Film directors from California Actors from Topeka, Kansas Musicians from Topeka, Kansas Film directors from Kansas 20th-century American LGBT people 21st-century American LGBT people