Peyser has been sculpting for over 30 years. He holds a B.A. in English and history from the University of Rochester. He served as Curator of Public Art for New York in three city administrations. International awards include an artist-in-residence fellowship at Fundacio Corbero in Barcelona. Notable exhibitions of his art consist of, among others: the solo shows Leather (Drawn) and Other Works, LES Projects at Lynch Tham Gallery, NYC; The Knots (Poetry in Leather), Duggal Underground Gallery, NYC; the group shows Visceral Velocity or the Emotional Speed of Things, Lichtundfire Gallery, NYC, with works by Ross Bleckner, Paul McCarthy, and Margaret Evangeline; Emotional Disorder or Cultural Discontent, Lichtundfire Gallery, with works by Gilbert & George, Jenny Holzer, Carolina Wuethrich, and Adja Yunkers; and Chewing Tar: Industrial Materials in the Service of Art, Lichtundfire Gallery, with works by Jarrod Beck, Allen Hansen, Christopher Stout, Rick Klauber, and Judy Richardson. As part of a downtown exhibition in honor of 9/11, his art was included in Wish You Were Here, with works by Sol Lewitt, Larry Rivers, and Kiki Smith. Past auction participation includes the New York Annual Artwalk, Coalition for the Homeless benefit exhibition, with artist Joseph Kosuth.
Peyser’s formalist abstract sculpture is mostly suggestive, carving out ample space for one to dwell in his, her, or their imagination. His art quietly insists that words do not accommodate all perceptions. Moreover, it asks that the viewer consider the use of new materials, forms, juxtapositions, and emotions when looking. Many of his sculptures are made with used horse traces. These are the heavy gauge harness straps that workhorses use to pull a carriage or a plow. Here the artist revalues remnants of leather, cast-offs, by making them into a new type of drawing. Earlier the sculptures took the form of knots: emblems of the variable and often poetic ways we bind things together and symbols of configuration that also hold the potential for release. Nearly always, the placement of each trace line--its turning, twisting, looping, and pinning--represents a decision. The result of Peyser's “drawing” is usually graphic, if not uniquely calligraphic.