Night Piece

He changed the face of art in New Zealand; he was kind of like a punk rock Len Lye.

– Natasha Francois on the work of her late partner Peter Roche, Stuff, 27 July 2020

Peter always felt that he worked outside of the mainstream art world, yet he had a genuine desire to communicate with people through his work.

– Director Bridget Sutherland on Peter Roche, Whānau Mārama website, 2024

I would like to make it clear that no university funds were involved . . . Whatever he did was at his own initiative and cost, including the hire of the aircraft...

– An Auckland University staff member in a letter to the editor about 'Meat Lift' — Peter Roche's dumping of an animal carcass into Hauraki Gulf (and removal), 19 July 1978

In the late 1990s, he acquired the cavernous, dilapidated Ambassador Theatre in Auckland’s Point Chevalier. Returning it to its former glory, he developed it as studio and residence, and, until 2011, he ran a bar and rock-music venue in the front. Out back, the studio became an ever-changing installation, which he occasionally opened to visitors.

– Art curator and writer Robert Leonard on Peter Roche, City Gallery Wellington website, 2020

In 1979, his last year at art school, Roche realised a series of solo performances that continued to court danger and were often gruelling to encounter. Many involved self-wounding, but unlike artists like Chris Burden, who in one work had himself shot, Roche’s cuts and incisions were superficial and no more harmful than your everyday body piercing.

– Art curator/writer Gregory Burke on Peter Roche's early performance art, City Gallery Wellington website, 2020