
Nadezda: Imaginary Friends


Opening March 5, 6-9 PM
Solo Exhibition
'Esemplastic' brings together Heidi Taillefer’s hybrid beings into a unified vision where organic, mechanical, and mythic elements merge into cohesive living forms. The exhibition’s title references the imaginative power to shape many disparate parts into a singular whole, reflecting Taillefer’s ongoing exploration of synthesis across time, biology, and technology. Her paintings reconfigure classical icons and archetypal animals as intricate composites of anatomical structures and machine-like components, animated by both ancient vitality and contemporary unease. While these figures suggest technological augmentation, they remain deeply embodied and emotionally resonant, emphasizing instinct, vulnerability, and persistence over cold futurism. Rather than presenting a dystopian future, Taillefer’s work underscores the inescapable continuity of the human condition, reminding viewers that even as bodies evolve and merge with technology, they remain rooted in myth, memory, and the primal forces that define being alive.
On View: March 5, 2026-March 29, 2026
Opening Reception: March 5, 6-9 PM
Heidi Taillefer was born in 1970, and lives and works in Montreal, Quebec. She attended weekly art classes as a child at the La Palette art school in Beaconsfield, Quebec, focusing on watercolor and various types of mediums. By the early 90’s Taillefer began working as a commercial illustrator in tandem with her fine art projects, but by 2004 she devoted her time fully to fine art, exhibiting internationally in both gallery and museum venues.
Her paintings often depict subjects comprised of seemingly incongruous objects characterized as symbolic, which form a complex composite of elements and add a contemporary spin to often classical icons. Taillefer's work highlights our growing hybridization with technology, in which she depicts “machine-like” constructions. Her approach is to infuse primordial aspects of the human condition into these hybridized humans and animals, and seeks to remind the viewer of the inescapable nature of our being despite our increasing merger with technology.
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