Leon Pericles was born in Perth in 1948 and graduated with a Diploma in Fine Arts from Claremont Art School in 1970. He gained his associateship in Fine Art at the West Australian Institute of Technology in 1972 and studied for a Higher Diploma in Fine Art at the Birmingham Polytechnic in 1974.

Pericles enjoys blending realism, surrealism, and decorative whimsy and his works often have an innocent, playful quality. However, he is also a master print maker, an occupation which requires meticulous attention to detail. As the director of the Feather Press Fine Art Printing Studio in Perth he not only produces his own etchings but also prints editions for other artists like Robert Juniper. In 1989 the Art Gallery of Western Australia honoured him with a retrospective titled "Twenty Years of Printmaking".

In addition to his skills as a painter and printmaker, Pericles has a passion for kites and has produced several magnificent hand-painted specimens which have flown in festivals in Japan, China, and Singapore and gained international awards. His fascination for the "old and beautiful" also draws him to auction rooms and antiquarian bookshops, in pursuit of interesting objets d'art.

All of these diverse personal interests have culminated in an approach to art which is imaginative and colourful. Pericles had his first one-person exhibition at Tuscany's Art Gallery, Perth in 1969 and since then has held several further exhibitions in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, London and Tokyo. Among his many awards are the Bunbury Art prizes for prints, drawing and watercolour (all in 1971), the Albany Art Prize for Painting in 1972, the Stirling City Council Drawing Prize in 1981 and the Camden Print Award in 1988.

His work is included in all Australian State galleries, Birmingham Art Gallery (UK), the Australian National Gallery, The Parmelia Hilton Collection, and the AustraliaJapan Foundation. He is also represented in numerous regional, corporate and private collections in Australia, Europe, the Middle East, Britain, Japan, China, South America, and the United States.