Derek Eller Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new paintings by Toronto-based artist André Ethier.

For his fourth solo show at the gallery, André Ethier has created a body of work which features grotesque floral arrangements painted in acid colors and imaginary portraits of hippie gnome-like creatures captured in mug-shot profile. Frequently collapsing the boundaries between the genres of still-life, landscape, and portraiture, Ethier composes vivid psychedelic visions of plant-human hybrids in which cigarettes emerge from behind a tangle of crimson flowers and a bouquet of marigolds stares with a Cyclops-ian eyeball. Approaching each work without having a definitive subject in mind, Ethier improvises his content and compositions, employing an array of application techniques to create luscious, painterly surfaces. Evoking art historical precedents from Giuseppe Arcimboldo to Emil Nolde, Ethier conjures strikingly intense imagery which is both contemporary and personal.

André Ethier has had solo exhibitions in Los Angeles, Torino, Miami, Copenhagen, Toronto, and Madrid. His work was recently featured in the group shows “Figuratively Seeing” at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and “Tales of Wonder and Woe” at Castle Gallery, College of New Rochelle.

North Room: Lorenzo De Los Angeles, Diadem and Chrysalis

Lorenzo De Los Angeles will present a group of exquisitely detailed colored pencil drawings in which subversive content is depicted in soothing pastel colors. Referencing botanical illustrations, medical books, and religious iconography, De Los Angeles carefully renders such subjects as the ambiguously gendered “Saint Wilgefortis”, a bearded woman who was crucified according to European folklore. Also included is a devotional image of “Amorphophallus Titanium”, the world’s largest flower whose spadix bears a striking resemblance to a penis, as well as the intimate “Delicate Membrane”, which pictures the hand of a scientist or artist using a pencil to dissect a biomorphic form. Frequently walking the line between violence and beauty, De Los Angeles’ subjects are presented as sacraments imbued with ritual and alchemistic powers.

Lorenzo De Los Angeles’s work has appeared in numerous exhibitions throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. This will be his second exhibition with the gallery.