Peter Hudson is a San Francisco visual artist. He created and installed Tantalus a life-size stroboscopic zoetrope at Burning Man 2008. Tantalus produces an illusion of action from a succession of static pieces.
It tells the tale of Tantalus, who stole ambrosia from the Gods. His punishment was to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches. Whenever he reached for the fruit, the branches raised his intended meal from his grasp. Tantalus presents a revolving Uncle Sam hat. A man's arm reaches for an apple, or golden watch. The object goes up and down, but it is always just out of reach.
Peter debuted his first major installation, Playa Swimmers in 2000. In addition to being featured in a Time Magazine article about the art of Burning Man, Playa Swimmers captured the attention of filmmaker Renea Roberts who interviewed Peter for her award-winning documentary, Gifting It.
The following year, Peter introduced his own idea of mobile art to the citizens of Black Rock City. Possession, a collection of six hands strategically placed on a model, traveled the playa, along with running commentary from the artist himself. In addition to the buzz it received on the playa, Possession garnered international attention for Peter when it was featured on the cover of the Italian Rolling Stone Magazine.
2002 ushered in the large scale, stroboscopic zoetropes for which Peter has become known. Sisyphish mesmerized festival participants and was featured in the Bill Breithaupt film Aqua Burn, putting Peter on the radar of the international art festival scene. In addition to Burning Man, Sisyphish, which depicts strobe-lighted swimmers in motion, has been installed in San Francisco, Nelson Canada for the Shambhala music festival as well as the Big Chill festival in Malvern England. It also has the distinct honor of introducing the audience to Gone Off Deep Production -- Burning Man: Beyond Black Rock
At Burning Man 2004, under extremely grueling conditions, Peter unveiled his third major installation, Deeper, which was featured in Breithaupt's film AstroBlaze. Despite the very arduous nature of Deeper's installation Peter continues to push the boundaries of kinetic sculpture.
Homouroboros at Black Rock City in 2007 and Tantalus in 2008. |
