Everyone has to be someplace and for now, I am here. Here seems to be where I have always been. Never been able to escape the skull that houses all of 'This'. And 'This' is what it is all about.

—Brendan deVallance

In 1981, while attending the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, I decided I was going to be a Performance artist. I had done at least two Performances prior to attending SAIC and by the time I had done my 2nd piece in Tom Jerumba's Intro to Performance art class I knew that I had found my place in the world. I decided that I would devote myself to Performance Art. That I would attempt to achieve success in the world grabbing hold of this place. On stage with me and junk. I had a very specific idea about what I wanted to do. And I set about to do it.

I started performing everywhere I could and I rarely turned down an opportunity to perform. Over the course of the 1980's and early 90's I performed over 200 different performances. I wanted to create a large body of work and I realized that if I stuck with it that I could not be ignored. But then something happened and I ignored myself. I moved to New York looking for more of a challenge and I got it. I also lost my appetite for tracking down the show. So I put it on hold and performed only sporadically from 1994 until now. I decided that I wanted to do something that did not require a show. Something I could do in the studio and show latter. So I have been making collages and doing printmaking.

A few months ago I decided to give up my studio which I had for over 12 years. In the process of cleaning it all out I realized that I wanted to get back to performance art. It is the thing that I do best of all the things I do. So After thinking that thought I soon got an opportunity to perform at P.S. 1 in Long Island City in the Romantic Detachment show.

Following is a smattering of information about what I did, when and where.

—Brendan deVallance, October 2004