The notion of making those around him directly complicit in his work is something that Peter Harris followed in the video pieces Self Portrait by Proxy 4 and 7, in which he is seen reading everything that the art world has ever written about him and everything gallery visitors have written in the comments book.

The deadpan delivery puts both the complimentary and negative statements into an ambiguous space where the personal reaction and the public personae of the artist merge. The collected comments provide a resume of the vicissitudes of the life of the artist.