London.- Erarta Galleries London is pleased to present “les Paradis Naturels”, a new collection of paintings by Aleksey Chizhov, on view at the gallery from February 24th through April 5th. One of Russia’s finest emerging artists, Chizhov’s paintings present a hallucinatory world encouraging growth and emotional development. In “Paradis Artificiels” (Artificial Paradises) Charles Baudelaire writes about opium as the wrong way through which humankind can achieve enlightenment; a taste for the infinite satisfied by the creation of a pharmaceutical heaven. Chizhov, however, uses the symbol of poppies as a metaphorical escamotage to encapsulate the struggle evident in our society – whether to run away and hide from one’s problems, or to face them. “Les paradis naturels” (Natural Paradises) was chosen as the title for Chizhov’s exhibition, as his work is a true manifesto inviting us to pursue an emotional and cognitive journey of self-growth.