You’ve probably heard expressions like “going around in circles” or “running like a rabbit,” but chances are you haven’t pictured them quite like Bruno Pontiroli’s scenes of zoological mayhem.

In oil paintings that nod to 19th-century wildlife illustrations, Lyon-based artist (previously) evokes common phrases like “la vie en rose,” akin to the English saying: “to see life through rose-colored glasses.” And in “Le conflit intérieur,” or “interior conflict,” a tiger and a grizzly bear duke it out despite being joined together.

Histoires Naturelles & Grotesques, Pontiroli’s solo show opening soon at Corey Helford Gallery, highlights the artist’s continued fascination with defying natural order. His compositions fuse animals into single beings, add absurdly long legs, or extend numerous extra appendages from a single creature to illustrate the often farcical quirks of human behavior.

Histoires Naturelles & Grotesques runs from November 2 to December 7 in Los Angeles. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.