Leo Mativo was born in Nairobi County, Kenya. He lives and works in Syokimau, Machakos County, which is south of Nairobi.
Mativo is a practicing self-taught Kenyan figurative expressionist artist, who primarily works with oil and/or acrylic paints. He creates spectral compositions that mirror divergent psychological and emotional dispositions concealed underneath our skin and the faces we see. His figurative imagery uses an unrestrained and intuitive technical approach that he achieves by use of fingertips, different brushes, spray bottles, pieces of cloth and random objects.
His work explores the self-image and mental health conditions and their effects. Not only on how we experience lifetime, but also their effect on different areas of life. For example relationship with ourselves and others, and our contribution and participation in society.
Mativo is a graduate of creative Entrepreneurship by the Godown Arts Centre with a background in Architecture from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and also completed the networked course CopyrightX that explores the current law of copyright and the ongoing debates concerning how that law should be reformed offered by Harvard Law School courtesy of the GoDown Arts Centre.
He has shown in several exhibitions in Kenya, including his recent solo exhibition Mirror Mirror: Portraits of Being Alive, Alliance Francaise, Nairobi, Kenya; Affordable Art Show, The National Museum of Nairobi; Tiny Christmas Works 2022, One Off Gallery, Nairobi, Kenya; Introspective, Liminal Spaces, Nairobi, Kenya.