Australian artist Ben Smith’s take on portraiture is loose and impressionistic, adhering to the classical tradition of figure painting. Yet his latest series, titled “Flux,” pops with candy-colored hues — the artificial colors that bleed into our lives by way of mass-produced products and media. The teals and violets add a playful quality to the work, accentuated by the surreal creatures he introduces into his whimsical scenarios. A miniature albino lion in one piece looks like it would make for an excellent viral pet video if it were a real animal; in another painting, a two-headed horse presents a perplexing and ultimately disturbing anatomical riddle. Tying together various threads in the world around him, Smith creates imaginative vignettes that engage the senses.
New Jersey-based artist 
Working in the tradition of Italian Renaissance masters, the Milan-based artist 
Examining the theme of survival, the floral figures of