Leon Pericles: A 50-Year Retrospective

Leon Pericles: A 50-Year Retrospective
11Oct2018

The Pericles family have spent more than a year scouring the walls of collectors and exploring the family’s privately held collection of works - to bring you 'Just Scratching the Surface' - a 50-year retrospective featuring more than 350 works.

Internationally acclaimed and collected Australian artist Leon Pericles is set to deliver the largest art retrospective in Western Australian history. 

The exhibition is made up of more than 350 works, including every etching Pericles has ever produced as well as the prints, paintings, collages and sculptures that have defined his 50-year career.  A self-confessed collector, Pericles’ works feature curios that have been found or fashioned in his workshop, each piece carefully considered before becoming part of one of his highly elaborate narratives. 

“My works are as much about the story-telling process and taking the audience on a journey as they are the art.” 

From abstract to realism, Pericles’ works run the full gamut of the art spectrum, many pieces heavily laden with satire but paired with the whimsy and enchantment that has become his trademark. Director of Linton & Kay Galleries Gary Kay says Pericles’ innate ability to capture the essence of life in Australia through the lens of his imaginary town of Widjimorphup with quick wit and dark humour has given him the staying power to sustain such a long and illustrious career. 


“Pericles’ aptitude for telling incredible tales across such a broad spectrum of mediums for so many years has cemented him as an absolute icon in the Australian art world”, said Kay. Faced with a retrospective of this scale, the Pericles family have spent more than a year making their way through an extensive archiving system, scouring the walls of collectors and exploring the family’s privately held collection of works. 

“We decided to keep two prints from each etching for the children.
They’ve now got plenty, so we’ll be selling a selection of works that were once very highly sought after.”

With works held in numerous major public and private collections both locally and internationally, his unique story-telling ability and his witty views of Australia, Pericles has earned himself the reputation of one of Australia's most prolific artists.  

Presented by Linton & Kay Galleries at Fridays Studio
Leon Pericles: Just Scratching the Surface
will be on display from 1 - 23 November 2018.

For more information and to preview the works, visit: https://www.lintonandkay.com.au/ 

For information, images and interviews: Hayley Sarre Detail Marketing Communications hayley@detail.com.au 0449 202 945 

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