FIGURES
Leo collaborates with a variety of subjects to explore self-expression through the body.
Leo studied painting and drawing from life with Maggi Hambling CBE. Using his animation training, he seeks movement and gesture in every pose, expressed in charocal, watercolour and oils.
In 2019, he was selected to appear in Sky TV’s Portrait Artist of the Year. His painting of singer Ricky Wilson was the celebrity sitter’s choice and he went on to receive the judges’ commendation for his linocut portrait of Akram Khan in Sky Portrait Artist of the Week (2020). His first solo show Life in Colour: Portraits of Queer Londoners was featured in the Evening Standard’s top five things to do for Pride in London 2019.
In 2021, he co-authored and illustrated the book Contemporary Figures in Watercolour, commissioned by Batsford following the success of his watercolour animation Nude Triumphant (2020). He has since been featured in Portraits for NHS Heroes (Bloomsbury, 2021), HRH Princess Margaret: 20 Years 20 Artworks (Ken Griffiths Bureau, 2022) and Decentralised Please Save Culture (New Society, 2023).
