Mary Lou Zelazny’s Surreal Botanical Studies at Carl Hammer Gallery

Currently at Carl Hammer Gallery, Vivarium is Mary Lou Zelazny’s immersive exploration of surreal plantlife. Zelazny combines painting and collage in striking, dreamlike images of technicolor trees and zebra-striped bouquets. At first glance, what seems to be merely exuberant plein air studies and still-lives, are revealed upon closer examination to be surreal and mysterious reconfigurations. Zelazny reimagines flora, creating new and unusual botanical studies collaged from monoprints. Her vibrant, almost hallucinogenic, multi-colored trees and flowers have leopard- and zebra-print leaves and pin-striped stems, while pop-culture images may be camouflaged within the leaves. Simultaneously familiar and uncanny, her work is a voyage into both the seen and the imagined.