Mark Ryden (Artist) 9/26/10

Work
(From Snow Yak Show 2008)
Mark Ryden Heaven Oil on Canvas 16"x20" 2008

Mark Ryden Yak Dream Graphite on Paper 9 1/4"x 12 1/4" 2008

Mark Ryden Abominable Oil on Canvas 20"x16" 2008

Mark Ryden Long Yak Oil on Canvas 12"x30" 2008

Mark Ryden Fur Girl Oil on Canvas 30"x20" 2008


Bio

Mark Ryden is an American painter, born in Medford, Oregon and educated at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, where he received his BFA. He now works out of Los Angeles and has exhibited worldwide. He is known as "the persuasive representative" of the modern lowbrow art world, due to the kitschy and culturally recognized symbols constantly reappearing in his work. "The contemporary-art world seems to be successfully gobbling up Street art. I can readily imagine kitsch being on the menu—with Mark Ryden right at the top." (Haden-Guest) Ryden's massive, almost cult-like following spans from average viewers to icons, such as Michael Jackson and Steven King. Ryden's paintings often portray reoccurring images, such as "wide-eyed, Victorian children, Abraham Lincoln, and grade-A beef," which harmoniously link the gap between "lowbrow culture and highbrow surrealism." (Haden-Guest)
Ryden tends to leave his work fairly open-ended, inasmuch I sense from multiple interviews I read, allowing for extensive viewer interpretation. "The most powerful meanings in art come from another source outside an artist's own literal consciousness. " (Ryden) There are many issues in which Ryden is overtly involving his work, such as portraying meat as a symbol of unquestionable physical presence and existence. His work also obviously references object culture and "toy art." I have been focusing on Ryden's recent series, "The Snow Yak Show," which he exhibited in Tokyo in 2009. These ethereal paintings place similar Victorian girl-women in scenes displaying their interactions with snow yak. These paintings speak, to me, to a sense of surreal inter-species connectedness on a dreamlike level.

Haden-Guest, Anthony. "The King of Old-Time Kitsch" The Daily Beast, Art Beast. 29 Apr. 2010. Accessed 26 Sept. 2010.

Relates

I mentioned above that Ryden's work leaves room for interpretation by intention. My interpretation of the Snow Yak series is not supported by any secondary source, and in fact, locating any legitimate critique or review of the show was not easy. This series relates to my previous work, and work I am planning, in its references to surrealism and bestial cues. I have been studying bestial themes in history and literature, especially fairy tales, such as Beauty and the Beast. Ryden's Snow Yak series, to me, portray the darker, dreamier equivalent to this pseudo-archetype in folklore. I would like to work with models more adaptable to this timeless, folklore imagery perhaps, to create more of a narrative in my work with taxidermy.


Quotations

"His dewy vixens, cuddly plush pets, alchemical symbols, religious emblems, primordial landscapes and slabs of meat challenge his audience not necessarily with their own oddity but with the introduction of their soothing cultural familiarity into unsettling circumstances. "

"Biography" Mark Ryden, Bio. Accessed 26 Sept. 2010.

"Viewers are initially drawn in by the comforting beauty of Ryden’s pop-culture references, then challenged by their circumstances, and finally transported to the artist’s final intent – a world where creatures speak from a place of childlike honesty about the state of mankind and our relationships with ourselves, each other and our past."

"Biography" Mark Ryden, Bio. Accessed 26 Sept. 2010.

*These quotes both address what I find relate-able about Ryden's work to my own intentions with my work. I am essentially taking commonplace objects and inserting them into a recontextualized situation as well, in a way I hope will make the viewer pause and re-examine.


Interview

http://www.markryden.com/press/highfructose/index.html


Gallery

http://www.kohngallery.com/artists.html


Artist's Site

http://www.markryden.com/