THE LIMIT AND THE HORIZON
The Art of Perseus Lira
Pietro Librici “aka Perseus Lira” is an Italian artist, who now lives in Los Angeles, California since 2021. He was born in 1985, in Legnano where Milan’s Province in Italy. Perseus and his family lived in both Lombardy (northern Italy) and Sicily (southern island of Italy), growing up in the north, a Sicilian heritage, Perseus revealed these origins and reflected them in his artworks now.
He studied classical dance for many years – perhaps this choice to use his body as an exercise in harmony came from his love for the severe magnificence of Sicily’s temples, the richness of its Baroque, the deep blue of its sea and the inexplicable amalgam of its almond cakes. Harmony is unattainable without discipline and so, with the idea of following a path of beauty in his life, he studied and received his BFA from Brera Fine Arts Academy in Milan, specializing in the restoration of contemporary artworks in 2007, and MFA in 2010.
He worked for the restoration of Amundsen’s glass slides in Norway, and also worked in London. After that he went back to Italy and started focusing on working on his artworks while teaching fashion design illustrations.
Perseus Lira had his first solo exhibition in 2014 in Milan, he was finalist for many different art contests in Italy, and he won one of Circuiti Dinamici.
He started from a cultured and classical approach to the human figure, but as he gradually apprehended the truth about his life and himself, he began to reflect on exploration and research in his work, though this did not make him an experimental artist, but rather an experimenter.
He cultivates careful watchfulness towards the invisible, but will dedicate the same attention to the tomato purée he never fails to make each summer, in a family rite that is first and foremost a way of being thankful to life. For him art and life are mutually dependent, and there are no limits to exploration.
Perseus Lira’s artistic practice contemplates the use of rigorous techniques, excellent materials, and long preparation in the search for original forms of expression - where trial and error are both a limitation and a new horizon.
Education
BFA in Conservation and Restoration of Art - Brera Academy of Fine Arts – Milan.
MFA in Conservation and Restoration of Contemporary Art - Brera Academy of Fine Arts – Milan.
Graduate of the “Musica Arte Spettacolo” School, Milan.