Naoto Hattori‘s creatures are both vivid and dreamlike, rendered in vibrant acrylics. The Japan-born artist creates absorbing work teeming with innocence. Each bends expectation and reality into beings alternate between disconcerting and ambrosial. Hattori was last mentioned on HiFructose.com here.
“My vision is like a dream, whether it’s a sweet dream, a nightmare, or just a trippy dream. I try to see what’s really going on in my mind, and that’s a practice to increase my awareness in stream-of-consciousness creativity. I try not to label or think about what is supposed to be, just take it in as it is and paint whatever I see in my mind with no compromise. That way, I create my own vision.”
Hattori graduated with a BFA in illustration from the School of Visual Arts in 2000. She’s since garnered awards from Society of Illustrators and international competitions.
New Zealander 
On scraps on paper, the drawings of Turkish artist Razi Razavi seem to apparate in a ghostly manner, the artist’s sparse details having both uneasy and captivating effects. Each visage carries its own, private narrative, yet many stare directly into the viewer’s eyes. As you’lll see below, the artist’s practice also extends to painting, yet maintains similar qualities.
Jesse Jacobi's expansive, seemingly ancient worlds reflect on the cycles of life and nature in a new show at Arch Enemy Arts. "From The Eternal Green Mouth" collects new acrylic paintings from the Michigan artist, who was last featured on HiFructose.com 
Dreams are considered important, real, and public in some cultures, but absurd, irrational and personal in others. Japan has its own history of dreaming, and the importance of dreams has evolved through Japanese supernatural beliefs and art for centuries. "Dreams are like strange stories," says Tokyo based artist