Blending themes of pop culture with techniques reminiscent of the old masters, Mark Ryden has created a singular style that blurs the traditional boundaries between high and low art. His work first garnered attention in the 1990s when he ushered in a new genre of painting, “Pop Surrealism,” dragging a host of followers in his wake. He has trumped the initial surrealist strategies by choosing subject matter loaded with cultural connotation.
Ryden’s vocabulary ranges from cryptic to cute, treading a fine line between nostalgic cliché and disturbing archetype. Seduced by his infinitely detailed and meticulously glazed surfaces, the viewer is confronted with the juxtaposition of the childhood innocence and the mysterious recesses of the soul. A subtle disquiet inhabits his paintings; the work is achingly beautiful as it hints at darker psychic stuff beneath the surface of cultural kitsch. In Ryden’s world cherubic girls rub elbows with strange and mysterious figures. Ornately carved frames lend the paintings a baroque exuberance that adds gravity to their enigmatic themes. Complex in its arcane and idiosyncratic subject matter, Ryden’s work can leave no viewer unmoved.
Pinxit, whose title refers to the Latin term meaning “painted by,” is organized by the themes of Ryden’s major exhibitions—The Meat Show, Bunnies & Bees, The Tree Show, and so on—and includes collected essays by Yoshitomo Nara, Carlo McCormick, and others, and a new essay by culture critic Kristine McKenna. This sweeping retrospective brings together nearly two decades’ worth of Mark Ryden’s paintings and works on paper, broadening the horizons of his uncanny universe and bringing it to the world, one page at a time.
Ryden’s vocabulary ranges from cryptic to cute, treading a fine line between nostalgic cliché and disturbing archetype. Seduced by his infinitely detailed and meticulously glazed surfaces, the viewer is confronted with the juxtaposition of the childhood innocence and the mysterious recesses of the soul. A subtle disquiet inhabits his paintings; the work is achingly beautiful as it hints at darker psychic stuff beneath the surface of cultural kitsch. In Ryden’s world cherubic girls rub elbows with strange and mysterious figures. Ornately carved frames lend the paintings a baroque exuberance that adds gravity to their enigmatic themes. Complex in its arcane and idiosyncratic subject matter, Ryden’s work can leave no viewer unmoved.
Pinxit, whose title refers to the Latin term meaning “painted by,” is organized by the themes of Ryden’s major exhibitions—The Meat Show, Bunnies & Bees, The Tree Show, and so on—and includes collected essays by Yoshitomo Nara, Carlo McCormick, and others, and a new essay by culture critic Kristine McKenna. This sweeping retrospective brings together nearly two decades’ worth of Mark Ryden’s paintings and works on paper, broadening the horizons of his uncanny universe and bringing it to the world, one page at a time.
The artist:
마크 라이든(Mark Ryden)은 1987년 파사데나에 위치한 아트센터 디자인 대학에서 미술학사 학위를 받았다. 그의 작품은 전 세계의 미술관과 갤러리에 전시되어 있으며, 여기에는 시애틀의 Frye Museum of Art와 Pasadena Museum of California Art에서 열린 회고전 Wondertoonel, 그리고 로스앤젤레스의 Museum of Contemporary Art에서 “The Artist’s Museum”전시가 포함된다. 그는 현재 로스앤젤레스에서 활동하고 있다.
마크 라이든(Mark Ryden)은 1987년 파사데나에 위치한 아트센터 디자인 대학에서 미술학사 학위를 받았다. 그의 작품은 전 세계의 미술관과 갤러리에 전시되어 있으며, 여기에는 시애틀의 Frye Museum of Art와 Pasadena Museum of California Art에서 열린 회고전 Wondertoonel, 그리고 로스앤젤레스의 Museum of Contemporary Art에서 “The Artist’s Museum”전시가 포함된다. 그는 현재 로스앤젤레스에서 활동하고 있다.
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