[Leo Psaros](https://www.cohart.com/leopsaros/profile) is a New York-based artist who found painting at a turning point in his life. Coming from a background in graphic design and marketing, the route to his current painting practice was unconventional, much like his work itself.

Leo's paintings reflect his view that our complex world is, at its core, an amalgamation of colors and shapes. He seeks to capture this complexity through deliberate compositional and color decisions, creating unique tensions and spatial dynamics within the canvas.

He is currently a Masters of Fine Arts candidate at the New York Studio School.

#### Tell us about your artistic journey

My career as an artist didn’t begin in the studio, but in the newsroom. I wasn’t an “artsy” kid, but in high school I joined the school paper and stumbled into graphic design. Since we had no budget, we sold ads to local businesses, so my first assignment wasn’t writing a lead but designing a half‑page ad for the town dry cleaner.

In college, I studied business and minored in graphic design, but it always felt commercial, more of a skill than an art form. That changed my senior year, when I took an intro to acrylic painting class to finish my minor and fell in love with painting. Suddenly, I wasn’t confined by the tools of Photoshop but only by my own hand.

After graduation, I worked in consulting, where I maximized shareholder value by day, and painted by night, until I realized my purpose wasn’t making PowerPoints. I left to pursue my MFA, and now, after my first year at the New York Studio School, I’m happy to finally say I’m a full-time artist. 

My work is rooted in the belief that this crazy world we live in is really just a bunch of colors and shapes, and I’m trying to capture that world as best I can. My old journalism teacher used to say, “simplicity is everything,” and that has always stayed with me. I try to distill the world into its simplest, most honest form: just color, shape, and the feelings that come with it. 


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#### What first drew you to make art?

I first started doing graphic design not because I wanted to express myself—advertising doesn’t leave much room for that—but because of the freedom and joy that creating gave me. I loved the feeling of starting a new project in Photoshop, not knowing where my mind would take me, but finding enjoyment in the fact that I’m creating something that hasn’t been made before.
 
That same feeling carries over into my painting. I create and create and create because that’s where the fun is. That’s the gift: being able to make whatever comes to mind, just for the joy of bringing it to life.


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#### What inspires your work, and where do you find your ideas?
Since I was first a graphic designer, Milton Glaser, Paula Scher, and the Bauhaus were my gods. I loved their geometric simplicity, bold colors, and clean lines.

Now as a painter, I would say my god is Bob Thompson. Like him, I’m driven by color and space, and I share his obsession with Renaissance masters. Titian and Ghirlandaio are my favorites, and I’m constantly drawing inspiration from their compositions and color choices.

When it comes to ideas, they mostly come from what I see. I see the world as shapes, colors and emotion, and my brain is always translating it that way. Whether it’s a quick sketch, a Renaissance painting, or something I see in passing, I instinctively break it down into color, form, and how it feels to me.



#### What makes your artistic approach unique?
How I blend the old with the new. My work and approach are based on the past as much as it is in the present. You’ll never find me creating something completely contemporary, just as you’ll never find me creating a carbon copy of a Renaissance painting (as hard as I try). 

I feel as though artists today are always trying to do something new, whether it’s digital art, AI, etc. But art is timeless. There are so many old paintings that could be considered modern, just as there are so many paintings today that could be considered “old”. And what makes my work unique is that I try to embrace it all. I don’t try to stay in one place. 





#### What does a typical day in your studio look like?

Well, I just moved into my first private studio, so my days don’t feel so typical just yet, but they are definitely exhausting. I usually spend the whole day there, partly because I want to stay immersed in my work, and mostly because I have to climb 5 flights of stairs just to get there.
 
Once I summit those stairs, my studio practice consists of a lot of searching and obsessing. Searching in that I’m always scouring the world for new material, especially in my school’s library, and obsessing in that once I find that idea, I make it my life’s mission to execute on it. 

I also try to do a self-portrait at least once a week, not only because I’m a narcissist but because I feel like there’s nothing more expressive than capturing yourself. 


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####  How has your artistic voice evolved since you started creating?


My work has shifted from how I see the world to how I feel it. Early on, my paintings looked like my graphic designs: flat, simple, geometric. They were by no means bad, but they were so drawn, so streamlined, that people often mistook them for illustrations. I used to take that as a compliment, but now I’m not so sure.

Going off of that, the most significant evolution for me so far has been to stop drawing my paintings and go straight into painting. Now my work is led by color and expression instead of line, and my voice feels different. It's less about what the world looks like and more about how it feels to me.


#### What role does experimentation play in your practice?

I struggle with experimentation. Not that I’m afraid of change or that I want to create the same thing over and over, but I do find that changes in my paintings come very gradually, and I don’t want to force it.  

This goes against everything we’re taught at the New York Studio School. Teachers are always saying, “If something isn’t working, make a big change.” 

Once when I was feeling stuck, my teacher Clintel Steed told me to pick a painting completely unlike my own. I chose Ghirlandaio’s “The Visitation”, which is this grandiose 20-figure fresco, and he said, “Great—recreate it on a six-foot canvas.” I thought he was nuts, but a month later, I did it, and I learned a ton.

That’s why I often seek out artists who are nothing like me—I need that push. If not, I tend to dip my toes before diving in. 



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#### How does your cultural background or life experiences influence your work?

I grew up in a dual-religious household: my dad is Greek Orthodox Christian, and my mom is Jewish. Yes, I was that kid who celebrated both Hanukkah and Christmas, and no, I didn’t get double presents. What it did give me was an appreciation for different perspectives and a comfort with not sticking to just one way of thinking. That openness greatly shapes how I approach my work.

For example, I’m always pulling from different sources, from German expressionism to American cubism to Japanese woodblocks. Growing up immersed in multiple traditions taught me to embrace different approaches to life and creativity. While you won’t see me painting Greek iconography, my upbringing is embedded in my work, guiding the way I weave different styles and ideas into something uniquely my own.


 #### What's the most challenging part of being an artist?
 Trusting the process. I struggle with it every day. Am I doing the right thing? Could I be doing more? Why isn’t my work going the way I want?

Those questions nag me constantly, but they’ve taught me (begrudgingly) that being an artist isn’t a linear path. That’s why things only move forward when you stay the course through the good, the bad, and the messy in-between.


####  What do you hope people feel or think when they see your work?
I don’t mean to sound apathetic, but art is subjective, and my art is no different. I would say my work often feels vibrant, playful, and even a little humorous at times. At the end of the day though, people can feel whatever they want, and that’s okay. As long as they feel something, I know I’ve done my job.

In my figurative work, for example, I try to capture the emotions of my subjects through bold shapes and colors, and while there may be a specific feeling I’m trying to express, the experience can be entirely different to someone else. I just create what I want to create, and what they feel is what they feel.




#### What advice would you give to someone just starting their artistic journey?
Accept that you are an artist. You may work a day job, you may be a parent, but when people ask who you are and what you do, your first response should be that you’re an artist. If you consider art just a hobby, then it’s always going to be a hobby. You’re never going to take it seriously until you take it seriously.

I say this as someone who worked a desk job full-time and painted just as much on the side, but never considered myself an artist. The moment I shut down that inner voice saying, “you’re not an artist,” everything changed; I finally took my practice seriously and owned my purpose.



#### What excites you most about where your art is headed?
For the past five years, my motto has been: create, create, create. Copying everything I see, painting from life, sculpting from the model, drawing New York City. Especially after completing the first year of my MFA program, I feel like I finally have the skills and the knowledge to execute on my artistic vision. 

Now that I have my own studio for the first time, what excites me the most is having the tools and freedom to create exactly what I want and to see how my work will evolve when guided entirely by my own voice.


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Through bold color and shape, Leo Psaros seeks simplicity in a complex world, capturing its essence with honesty


Spotlight: Leo Psaros Translates the World into Color, Shape, and Feeling

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