Peggy Reavey's paintings explore dichotomies between good and bad perceptions of the self, traced through personal and historical experiences. As a child, the artist regarded herself as having two versions—the real and the pretend selves. The real one was good, pretty, and smart, and the pretend one was sneaky, dirty, and a liar. Reavey’s paintings reveal the energy required to expose the “real” self to the external world while hiding the version that does things that oppose the “real” self. As such, a tension between desire and virtue becomes thematically dominant in Reavey’s work as she navigates humanity’s destructive and puzzling nature with paintings that feel personal and universal.

Peggy Reavey was born in 1947 in Philadelphia, PA, and lives in San Pedro, CA. She received her MFA in Fiction from the University of CA, Irvine in Irvine, CA (1987); her BA from Antioch University in Los Angeles, CA (1984); and attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (1965-67).

Reavey has mounted solo exhibitions at Shelter in New York City, NY (2022); Gallery 478 in San Pedro, CA (2018); Cornelius Projects in San Pedro, CA (2015); and the Torrance Art Museum in Torrance, CA (2006).

Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions, including Gathering of Angels at the Angels Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro, CA (2022); Untitled, San Pedro at South Bay Contemporary in San Pedro, CA (2015); Featuring at Transvagrant Warshaw Gallery in San Pedro, CA (2013); and “Pssst: Art in San Pedro at Transvagrant Warshaw Gallery in San Pedro, CA (2012).

She has been reviewed in publications such as The Philadelphia Inquirer (2005), The Argonaut (2004), and Faultline Journal of Arts and Letters, UC Irvine (2010).