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
Order & shipping handled by the studio

The figure remains still while everything around it refuses to. Blues explores the distance between appearance and experience, where what is visible is only part of the story. Rather than offering answers, the painting invites you to look beyond the surface and discover what quietly insists on being felt. Calm isn't always at peace.

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
Order & shipping handled by the studio

This piece explores the seduction of luxury and the identities we build around desire. Luxury becomes more than an object. 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
Order & shipping handled by the studio

Mercy is often mistaken for softness. This painting questions that assumption. Beneath its stillness lies the quiet work of becoming, where vulnerability and strength exist together, and every mark carries the memory of what came before. Some transformations happen in an instant. Others become a way of living.

Fragments: choose one

 

Sold Becoming: a teal-green torso on a bright yellow field, surrounded by pink line drawings: a bomb, a crown, a chess knight, the number 25, an AK-47, a roll of money, the four card suits, an angel wing, dice reading LIFE IS A GAMBLE, a radiant cross, a broken bone, a crosshair, a diamond, a fanged serpent, the word NOW and the word SACRIFICE.
IV

Becoming

Commissioned for a private collector.

Artist
Amy Lessard
Series
House of Duality
Medium
Acrylic & paint marker on canvas
Status
Sold · Private collection
Private commission · not available

Every version of ourselves is built through exchange. Becoming explores what we willingly surrender in pursuit of identity, ambition, love, belief, or power. Around the figure, symbols quietly emerge as echoes of the choices that shape us. Some reveal what was gained. Others reveal what it cost.

Vocabulary: 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

Every painting is an original, one of a kind. Use the Acquire button on any work to open a short order form; the studio confirms availability and sends a secure invoice with taxes and shipping. Your original is reserved the moment you submit it.

  1. 1Choose a work and send your request
  2. 2Receive a secure invoice from the studio
  3. 3Your original is packed and shipped
Contact the studio
studio@houseofduality.ca +1 (873) 339-3309

Commissions welcome · Ships from Canada · Payment by secure invoice