About the artist...

Read 2018 press in My Modern Met, and VoyageLA. 

View Peralta's two-person show with William Geisler here.

Watch Peralta work on one of his typewriter Mechanations here. Video by David De Gendt.

Read the Austin Chronicle review of Peralta's 2017 show here. 

John A. Peralta is a self-taught artist whose work examines the emotional relationship that develops between humans and the machines we use on a regular basis. John’s unconventional style of sculpture incorporates iconic mechanical objects and high-tech materials to produce astonishingly beautiful and complex representations. His interpretation of what is known in engineering terms as the exploded diagram, is truly original and demonstrates his extraordinary imagination, technical expertise, and inventiveness.

John is a native of New Mexico. His family’s roots date back to the second Spanish governor, Don Pedrode Peralta, who founded the city of Santa Fe in 1607. And although he now lives in Austin Texas, his New Mexico family and heritage remain major influences on his life and work.

From his midteens through his midtwenties John lived in communes where he developed practicalselfreliance and a love for the natural world. He then spent more than 20 years living abroad andtraveling throughout East Asia, India, Africa, the South Pacific, Southeast Asia, and Europe.

For most of his professional career John worked in corporate and educational fields. He served as Executive Director of International Affairs at UCLA, where he was responsible for the university’s global advancement. Prior to that, he lived seven years in Hong Kong where he founded Global Philanthropic, an international consulting firm that advises universities, non-profit organizations, and governments on strategic management issues.

Some of his earliest memories are of him and his brother pulling their red wagon around the neighborhood, knocking on doors, collecting broken radios, televisions, tape players – anything they could get their hands on – opening them up to see what made them work. As a teen, he spent a lot of time sketching with pencil and charcoal. He was especially inspired by the mind-warping works of M.C. Escher.

He received no formal training in the arts, and it wasn’t until his thirties that he found his creative voice. His interests are in visual and textural contrasts, motion, mechanics, space, time, and the use of bold colors. His influences include cubist artists like Metzinger and Picasso, and the surrealist, Storm Thorgerson.

John is currently represented by Wally Workman Gallery in Austin, Cinq Gallery in Dallas, Gerald Peters in Santa Fe, and Galerie Goutal in Aix-en-ProvanceFrance. He has had exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Austin and Santa Fe. Commissions for private collectors and corporate clients are also a significant part of his work. Recent commissions have included Virgin Hotel Nashville, Fender Corporate Headquarters, Notre Chicago Nike Collection, and Vordado Corporation.

Visit artist's website - www.johnperaltafineart.com