The Bruce Conner Portraits  were shot in July of 1979 in Peterson’s San Francisco studio.
Like no other portrait series of Bruce Conner, Richard Peterson’s shoot captured the animated,
crazy, and passionate character Conner was in day-to-day life.
Bruce Conner pored through all the contact sheets (two of which are on display), selecting certain images
he particularly liked, and creating an art work as energetic and powerful as his own persona.
He chose the photograph with the pliers in his nose to be considered his “official artist portrait for the punk era”.
At the end of the shoot, Bruce Conner took a portrait of the photographer (also shown).