Born into an artistic and musical family, Leonardo, originally from Venezuela, grew up drawing pictures and playing instruments (his first being a cuatro, a Venezuelan folk guitar). Having never attended art school, he credits his family’s influence and his 15-year profession as a framer as having lain the groundwork for his artistic vision. “Everything I know I learned in the field,” he says.

One constant — and unusual element — in Leonardo’s art process is the mixing and overlaying of images, floating multiple images in a single composition, “like memories,” he says. He achieves this effect by printing each image on a separate sheet of Plexiglas, then layering and manipulating the sheets to create a final image. “My art also features everyday things,” he adds. “I aim to find beauty in the streets, in the things around me. This led me to explore the use of common, everyday objects as the protagonists of my artistic expression — things such as power lines, telephones, record players, windows, the laundromat, dogs and birds.

“The art world has taught me about substance, and my profession as a framer has taught me about precision, so I am driven to deliver all these in everything I do,” says Leonardo.

For more information about Leonardo, visit his Instagram page @leobelo___