Achille Perilli was born in Rome in 1927. He is recognised for his compositions of forms similar to projections on the planes of parallelepipeds that finally result as being unlikely and irregular, almost inconclusive to the eye. A student of Lionello Venturi, with whom he prepared his graduation thesis on metaphysical art, Perilli founded the “Gruppo Arte Sociale” (GAS). At the same time, he collaborated in the founding and editing of the magazines, “Ariele” and “La Fabbrica”.
In 1947, he participated in the drafting of the manifesto “Forma 1” (also signed by Accardi, Attardi, Consagra, Dorazio, Guerrini, Sanfilippo, and Turcato) published in the first issue of the magazine also called Forma 1. The following year, he collaborated with Sottsass Jr. in organising the first exhibition of abstract art in Italy that was held at the Galleria di Roma. Presented by Lionello Venturi, Perilli took part in the first international congress of art critics held in Paris, and with Dorazio, he presented a report on the state of Italian 20th century art.
In 1950, with Dorazio and Guerrini, he founded the “Age d’Or” gallery-bookstore; “Age d’Or” also published the first technical-information journal on contemporary art, Forma 2. Again with Dorazio and Guerrini, the artist produced the fourth issue of the architectural magazine, “Spazio”, completely dedicated to abstract art. The same year, Lucio Fontana invited the “Age d’Or” to collaborate in the Milan Triennale: Perilli, Dorazio and Guerrini worked together to create two large-scale murals that were awarded the silver medal.
In 1957, he held a personal exhibition at Tartaruga gallery, and five years later, he was assigned a personal exhibition space at the Venice Biennale. In 1963, took part in the meeting of the “Gruppo 63” in Palermo. At the same time, he held a personal exhibition at the Bonino Gallery in New York. At the beginning of the 1970s, a range of his works dating from 1961 to 1969 were shown in a personal exhibition at the Galleria Nazionale in Prague, and he organised a series of personal exhibitions in Italy and abroad. He was invited to participate in the International Biennal Exhibition of Prints in Tokyo. In 1979, he organised and produced an exhibition for the City Council of Rome: “L’avanguardia polacca 1910-1978” at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni. In the 1980s, Perilli participated in the setting up of the magazine for artists: “Retina”, in which he published the manifesto, Theory of Geometric Irrationality. One large retrospective show of his work entitled “Achille Perilli, continuum 1947-1982” was shown at the Palazzo dei Congressi in the Republic of San Marino. He later held another retrospective of his works painted between 1969 and 1984 at the Paris Center in Paris, called “Achille Perilli. L’irrazionale geometrico”. During the 1990s the artistic language of Perilli’s work increased in strength with vibrant, joyous, brilliant colour. He developed form in a bi-dimensional direction, expanding in the space of the canvas and acquiring a structure of strong movement and elegance.
ACHILLE PERILLI
