a male lion yawns with an enormous mouth and a cub mimics him

“Les grandes gueules” (2023), 97 x 130 centimeters. All images © Bruno Pontiroli, shared with permission

“Absurdity is what makes me want to paint,” says Bruno Pontiroli. The Lyon-based artist is known for his wild contortions that twist the fierce and ferocious into the playfully bizarre. In “Les grandes gueules,” for example, a male lion yawns in enormous proportions, and a gazelle gracefully stands in tree pose for “L’aplomb,” no quivering muscles in sight.

Pontiroli’s latest paintings exaggerate the animals’ strange characteristics and yoga-esque inversions, which he takes to greater extremes than his previous works because “it just felt right at the time…I like to tell jokes in images, to show something illogical, which will lead the person who looks at my work to ask questions about the meaning of things,” he shares.

Shop limited-edition prints on the artist’s website, and follow news about his upcoming solo show this fall at Corey Helford Gallery on Instagram.

 

a pig doing a backbend balances on its tongue and supports a shark doing a backbend on its back

“Le mal de mer #1” (2022), 162 x 130 centimeters

a painting of a gazelle standing on one leg in a dry climate

“L’aplomb” (2023), 70 x 80 centimeters

a tiger stands on its hind legs that squiggle out from its body in a strangely stretched form

“Pattes molles” (2022), 70 x 80 centimeters

a duck walks out of the water with orange inflatable feet

“Elle est gonflée” (2023), 50 x 40 centimeters

a moose with squiggly legs that make him levitate in a mountain landscape

“L’emjambée sauvage” (2022), 89 x 116 centimeters

a rhino stands on its two font legs and lifts the two back legs in the air

“Le grand panard” (2023), 81 x 116 centimeters

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Bruno Pontiroli’s Exaggerated Proportions and Yoga Poses Contort the Fierce Beasts of the Animal Kingdom appeared first on Colossal.

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