Life according to Oscar De Las Flores is a rich, if exceedingly grotesque pageant. Comprising 12 drawings, the Toronto-bred artist’s new show is exacting in its depiction of corruption, covering everything from gluttony to pride. De Las Flores borrows generously from forebears Francisco Goya and José Clemente Orozco, whose work also broached the horrors of human foibles, as well as Hieronymus Bosch and Albrecht Dürer (especially the latter’s Apocalypse of St. John). But De Las Flores’ mannered pen-and-ink technique is just as suggestive of modern comics, taking its cue from the borderline misanthropic visions of illustrators Norman Mingo and Al Jaffee, two key contributors to Mad magazine. This melding of the refined and lowbrow gives his critiques a certain lightness: the devilish figures are funny—with their maniacal grins, corpulent faces and engorged breasts—but beautiful, too, their carefully wrought bodies expertly interwoven like the branches of some ancient, impenetrable forest.

A Provisional History of the Western World. Artwork from $2,500. June 22 to July 21. Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects, 1086 Queen St. W., 416-537-8827, www.katharinemulherin.com