Artist Spotlight: Leonard Paschoal

Len Paschoal never followed a conventional path to becoming an artist, nor did he want to. After being born in Switzerland, he grew up in Brazil, then moved to Italy to attend architecture school. Eventually, Paschoal found himself at UCLA for design. However, he soon realized he preferred working alone, finding that his real education came from solitude. 

“I didn’t want a career,” he says. “I just wanted to make beautiful things.” 

And he did. Over the years, he’s developed a meticulous style rooted in realism, creating for the sake of lucidity, order, and quiet curiosity. 

Paschcoal’s process is deeply organized and largely driven by intuition. Each piece begins with a precise image in mind. Once he starts, there’s only one motivator: discipline. He works almost exclusively in graphite and colored pencil, drawn to their immediacy and control. “When you use pencil,” he says, “you know exactly what it’s going to do. It’s about clarity.” In contrast to the unpredictability of paint, drawing allows him to move slowly, deliberately. “I like the feeling of being in control of my mark-making, like every detail matters.” Because of this awareness, his drawings feel speciously photographic at first glance. But at a closer look, you quickly realize Paschoal isn’t just documenting reality. He’s reordering it. A disjointed limb, a misplaced object, a blurred figure, and objects partially seen.

There is always a sense of movement in his work, as he explains, “I try to capture the truth of a moment.” This way, Paschoal’s drawings are acts of psychological storytelling. His work doesn’t scream for attention; it invites reflection. Clean lines, subtle distortions, and stillness all become tools for asking questions. Even in the most composed pieces, there's a flicker of unease, a sense of ominosity.

He focuses on perfectly articulating each precise line and works diligently until he feels it is complete. To him, a piece is done “when the story is told.” That story might not be clear to the viewer, but for Paschoal, it’s never about explanation. It’s about connection. “You know when something feels honest,” he says. 

A lifelong student of art history, Paschoal names Francis Bacon, Egon Schiele, Diego Velázquez, and Käthe Kollwitz among his greatest influences, artists known for their vulnerability and intensity. Like them, he believes that art should reflect the artist’s inner life. In addition to appreciating classical art, Paschoal lives day-to-day as an observer of life. Fascinated by even the most quotidian of spaces, he finds beauty in sentience. Whether it be a blue spider he spots while on a walk with his nephew, or alluring lighting in a hospital corridor, Paschoal draws inspiration from all experiences. 

Today, Paschoal creates quietly from his home studio, far from gallery deadlines or public pressure. He rarely shows his work but remains steadfastly dedicated to his craft. When asked what advice he’d give to young artists, his answer is simple: “Don’t try to fit into a system. Make work you care about. Everything else will follow.” He encourages people to trust their instincts, embrace authenticity, and accept that they are faultlessly individual. To him, being an artist means possessing the freedom to do whatever one desires. 

Paschoal’s work doesn’t clamor to be understood but instead waits to be discovered. Beneath the precision and restraint lies a quiet intensity, a deep trust in the viewer’s ability to feel rather than analyze. “I want to leave something behind that’s uniquely mine,” he says. That legacy is not loud, but lasting. It is intimate, sincere, and surreal in the best way, like a dream you half-remember, but never shake.