Peligian produces breathtaking work and belongs to a côterie of powerful women who continue to influence the contemporary art historical conversation, including Joan Jonas, Agnes Martin, Zilia Sanchez, Phyllida Barlow, and Louise Bourgeois.

 

Born in Providence, Rhode Island, the artist received a scholarship to RISD Saturday School at nine years old and never looked back. In 1983 Peligian lost a large body of work to a flood which destroyed thousands of her pieces. Starting from scratch, she reopened her studio in Manhattan and then Long Island City, ultimately expanding and shifting her practice to include sculpture, installation, and video.

​

Peligian’s sculptures often directly reference her own body, as she rolls herself in material and places an indestructible elemental object inside the form, before sealing the sculptures with fiberglass.