Thursday Salute to Originals: History Dissected
Preservation is the process of keeping something of value intact, and free from damage or decay. Meet artist John Peralta, who has a forward-thinking aesthetic that is prominent throughout his work. His point of view is nostalgic, inspiring an emotional connection with the viewer and the object. Peralta’s exploded diagrams focus on classic historical objects of the past.
“The machines I choose for my sculptures tend to be iconic examples of great design and engineering. They are complex, elegant, and beautiful.” Peralta’s inspiration began while he was living in China and saw an exploded axonometric on the back of a magazine. His curiosity began, and he started to deconstruct and rebuild well-known objects such as a sewing machine, typewriter, and a guitar. Instead of sketching or painting an object, Peralta created a real-life exploded diagram. He uses a ruler and basic tools to construct his sculptures. The end result is an early twentieth-century object suspended by a translucent thread, an assembly that transforms into a noteworthy sculpture.
Although he has not received any formal training as an artist, Peralta credits his childhood curiosity of taking apart everyday objects and inventing something new. He committed to a career as an artist in his early-thirties, formally embracing his passion to deconstruct and reinvent pieces. Peralta is interested in motion, mechanics, space, and time with the use of bold color stories.
This Thursday, we are saluting John Peralta and his body of historical sculptures! His work is uncanny, a steampunk nod to the exploded axon, and gives simple mechanical objects a reincarnation through dissection.
Sources: John Peralta, This is Colossal, My Modern Met