Jos. A Smith’s dreamlike paintings move between elegance and cacophony. His horse-riders, specifically, carry a quality have a surreal, yet granular quality that invites close inspection. Part of the artist’s work his rooted in his practice of “of trance techniques learned from the Nyngmapa sect of Tibetan Buddhism, research psychologists, anthropologists, and shamans with my own dream records to make that membrane between my waking state and my unconscious more permeable.”
“I am fascinated by that world of imagery that exists at every moment within us, but breaks into consciousness only fleetingly during our days and, for most of us, in fragmentary form upon waking from dreaming sleep. I have spent my adult life searching for ways to explore this hidden inner world. My art is a record of those journeys. It is a means of sharing my sense of wonder at what I see. My imagery often surprises me as it evolves on the paper or canvas.”
Austrian painter Peter Gric offers surreal visions of the future, with writhing biomechanical creatures and notes from ancient religious art coursing throughout his paintings. Gric’s work also includes sculpture, bringing his metallic forms to life. Though often constructed in acrylics, gold leaf, and other traditional paints, Gric’s work begins as digital sketches:
Often times, the paths we take in life are unexpected. Brooklyn based artist 
The mixed-media paintings of 
Figures are subsumed in textured paint that drifts over the horizon like a thick fog in