Amy Lessard · Contemporary symbolic painting

House of Duality

We are never just one thing. Neither are my paintings.

Scroll. Look closer. Amy Lessard

House of Duality · Vocabulary

Some paintings contain recurring fragments that form part of the visual language of House of Duality.

Some return. Others appear only once. They are not meant to be solved. They exist to be interpreted.

Selected works

Blues: a torso in deep cobalt blue standing on a fiery red, orange and yellow impasto field, surrounded by white line drawings: a Venus symbol, the word FUCK mirrored, a bunny, cherries, a spider web, a tooth, swallows, the characters for Virgo, a dagger, dice, an eye, a rose, a lighter, an ace of hearts, a butterfly, a bow and arrow, a serpent, the number 555 and the word HE:LL.
I

Blues

Artist
Amy Lessard
Series
House of Duality
Size
26 × 20 in
Price
$950 CAD
Medium
Acrylic & paint marker on canvas
Status
Original, available

A body of cold flame standing in a burning field, the exact inversion of the first canvas. Gentleness and violence share the same wall here: doves beside a blade, a rose beside dice, an open eye that never blinks.

Vocabulary: choose one

 

Hunger: the rear wing of a pink and black Porsche, its lettering mirrored, traced with a white contour on a crimson field scattered with white line drawings: a roll of money, a kewpie doll in a party hat, lips, a stag beetle, a grenade, a chandelier on a chain, a crosshair and a chess queen, above the plate 999.
II

Hunger

Artist
Amy Lessard
Series
House of Duality
Size
20 × 20 in
Price
$500 CAD
Medium
Acrylic & paint marker on panel
Status
Original, available

This piece explores the seduction of luxury and the identities we build around desire. The Porsche becomes more than a car. It becomes a mirror. Around it, symbols quietly emerge, each carrying a fragment of a larger story. Some may speak to you immediately. Others may wait.

Fragments: choose one

 

Mercy: kneeling figure in warm orange on a cobalt blue field scuffed with gold, surrounded by white line drawings: a crown, hanging scales, an ornate dagger, an ouroboros, a butterfly sealed in a bag, a cracked hand mirror, a key, a black widow, fangs, and the masks of comedy and tragedy.
III

Mercy

Artist
Amy Lessard
Series
House of Duality
Size
28 × 22 in
Price
$750 CAD
Medium
Acrylic & paint marker on canvas
Status
Original, available

The story we show: a body folded into itself, warm and at rest on a field of cobalt scuffed with gold. The story we hide is drawn around it in white: a crown above, justice weighed against desire, a butterfly kept too safe to fly, a mirror that has already cracked.

Fragments: choose one

 

Softness&sharpness

Desire&restraint

Dominance&vulnerability

Beauty&obsession

The story of the paintings

Symbols that reveal
themselves over time

I create contemporary symbolic paintings that explore the duality of the human experience.

Through bold compositions and layered symbolism, I explore the tension between softness and sharpness, desire and restraint, dominance and vulnerability, beauty and obsession.

Rather than offering a single interpretation, my paintings invite viewers to slow down, look closer, and discover new layers of meaning over time.

My work is an invitation for anyone who has ever felt too complex to exist within a single identity.

About me

Contradiction is one of the most honest parts of being human.

Painting became the place where they stopped fighting.

I've never fit comfortably into a single identity. Strength and sensitivity. Control and surrender. Logic and emotion. For years, these parts of myself felt like they were in constant conflict.

Every canvas allows opposing forces to exist together, to dance instead of compete. Symbols, colors, and recurring motifs become metaphors for the internal landscapes we rarely put into words.

I want each piece to feel different every time someone looks at it. The longer you spend with it, the more it reveals.

Amy Lessard

Look closer

Originals and commissions are available on request. Write to the studio. And if a piece keeps calling you back, that's the second story doing its work.

Contact the studio