Printmaker, painter, muralist, illustrator, and designer Leonel Maciel was born March 21, 1939 in Le Soledad de Maciel, in the Costa Grande de Guerrero, situated along the Pacific coast of Mexico. Born into a working class family of rural farmers, he was encouraged by his parents to read novels and poetry and to draw, despite a lack of arts education in the region. At age ten he was sent to Mexico City to further his education, though he still did not formally pursue art. After high school he worked odd jobs and sold his own self-taught artwork to support himself. In 1958 he was given a scholarship to attend the Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultara y Grabados "La Esmerelda" where he studied under Raúl Anguiano. Though he began in the Mexican Muralist tradition, he eventually broke away to be a part of the Generación de la Ruptura, young Mexican artists who rejected what they saw as formulaic and nationalistic. Maciel soon found himself drawn to the freedom of expression found in Abstraction and other post-WWII genres. 

After graduation from La Esmerelda in 1962, Maciel began traveling, first to New York and Iceland, and eventually to Europe where he lived for three years. His travels produced great inspiration, from the aurora borealis to the architecture and symbolism of the Pacific Rim, Southeast Asia, and China. Of particular interest to him was the nature of his multi-racial background, having ancestral roots in and cultural influence from the Indigenous Mexican, African, and Asian peoples who lived in the region of Mexico where he was born. Religious and mythical sybolism, erotica, and humor became key elements of his work, with critics applying the label of Magic Realism to his style; however, he rejected categories and never embraced any one genre. 

Maciel's first solo show took place in 1964 at the Galeria Excelsior in Mexico City, and he exhibited regularly thereafter in Mexico and abroad. Among his most noted participations was in the 1982 "Contemporary Mexican Painters" exhibition at the Picasso Museum in Antibes, France, and in the "Myth and Magic of Latin America" Biennal in Rio de Janeiro in 1979. In addition to his fine art career, Maciel has also been commissioned to design theater sets and costumes, and has illustrated several children's books.

Among the recognitions he received for his work were retrospectives at the Museo del Carmen in Mexico City (2001) and the Museo de la Ciudad de Mexico (2003). His work can be round in the Museo del Carmen and the Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City; the Modern Art Museum in Reijkiavik, Iceland; and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Managua, Nicaragua.

Leonel Maciel continues to live and work in the state of Guerrero where he was born.