Hazy figures walk towards the viewer in John Wentz’s new series of oil paintings, their faces muddled as if conjured from some distant memory or last night’s dream. His solo show “Passages,” opening alongside Mike Davis’s “A Blind Man’s Journey” (see our recent studio visit with Davis here), is set to debut at San Francisco’s 111 Minna Gallery on October 3. Wentz’s work is optimally experienced in person. Playing with new textures, he steers his figurative paintings further into abstract territory, breaking down bodies into their basic components and exaggerating the ways light dances on them. Wentz deliberately calls attention to the paint itself, allowing pigments to bubble and burst and scraping away fine lines with a pencil. The results are disorienting and poignant, reminding us of the ways our own memories can be distorted and altered.
Dorielle Caimi is featured in a new Hi-Fructose Studio Visit on our YouTube Channel. The video takes us behind the scenes with the oil painter, whose work often focuses on the female form and the spectrum of characteristics associated with women. The music and video comes from 
Orion Martin applies a startling ability to play with textures, shifting planes, and focus to an unexpected assortment of objects and characters. His shifting between mediums adds to the guessing game of looking at a particular piece and attempting to dissect each element’s nature. He's often been linked to the representational artists under the Chicago Imagists moniker.
Nora Keyes, artist and lead singer of art-rock acts like Fancy Space People, The Centimeters, and Rococo Jet, combines painting and collage for intricate, multidimensional pieces. The absorbing work can be scrutinized from feet or inches away, maintaining the viewer’s gaze at every corner. The work can feel otherworldly, yet entirely human in their contemplation and introspection.