Ring Around the Rosie (The Art of Mark Ryden)

Mark Ryden came to preeminence in the 1990s during a time when many artists, critics and collectors were quietly championing a return to the art of painting. With his masterful technique and disquieting content, Ryden quickly became one of the leaders of this movement on the West Coast.
Upon first glance Rydens work seems to mirror the Surrealists fascination with the subconscious and collective memories. However, Ryden transcends the initial Surrealists strategies by consciously choosing subject matter loaded with cultural connotation. 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.
Viewers are initially drawn in by the comforting beauty of Rydens pop-culture references, then challenged by their circumstances, and finally transported to the artists 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.
Clearly infused with classical references, Rydens work is not only inspired by recent history, but also the works of past masters. He counts among his influences Bosch, Bruegel and Ingres with generous nods to Bouguereau and Italian and Spanish religious painting.
Over the past decade, this marriage of accessibility, craftsmanship and technique with social relevance, emotional resonance and cultural reference has catapulted Ryden beyond his roots and to the attention of museums, critics and serious collectors. Rydens work has been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including a recent museum retrospective Wondertoonel at the Frye Museum of Art in Seattle and Pasadena Museum of California Art.
Mark Ryden was born in Medford Oregon in 1963. He received a BFA in 1987 from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles where he paints slowly and happily amidst his countless collections of trinkets, statues, skeletons, books, paintings and antique toys.

Music by Queen Adreena, 'Sleeping pill'

oh so, my love
this sleeping pill
will watch you through the night
and come dawn
i'll be long, long gone
i tried, i tried, i tried
i..tried, i..tried
we feed upon the broken branch
we kiss the stars goodbye
for the sun can't fight this overcast
i tried, i tried, i tried
i..tried, i..tried
the spider's web
it can't break our fall
i whisper to the sky
i pray she takes you in her arms
i tried, i tried, i tried
i..tried, i..tried
i..tried..
storm warning in the sand
she evaporates beneath my fingernails
the road is lost underwater
she's running down a river with eels
she is lost to me.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• mark
• ryden
• queen
• adreena

[riotup7]

Can someone tell me who sings this song???? i really like it:)

[shivabel]

Queen Adreena, 'Sleeping Pill'

[almacattleya]

sono rimasta colpita dall'immagine di 1:00. mi ricorda molto alice nel paese delle meraviglie però mi sembra di vedere una specie di lincoln che tira fuori un feto da un albero. WOW! trovo questa e le altri immagini surreali e alcune anche inquietanti. ti consiglio, se non la conosci già, un'illustratrice giovane e molto brava che tratta i bambini così: mara cerri.

[shivabel]

Non conoscevo Mara Cerri. Grazie del consiglio! ;-)

[wiggitywiggitywham]

i,v seen alot of creepy things in my time, but this has got to be the most beautifully disturbing shit i,v ever seen

[shiela723]

I seriously love the Artworks!!-- though the girls look like that thing on the Splice movie..

[araceli346]

amazing!!!!!

[MsJullejulle]

Wow, it´s so beautiful. He´s brilliant. The girl who cries blood whit black hair. I got her tattooed on my back..

[TheFeyRa]

I don't know about such stuff as originality or whatever, but I think these pictures are really beautiful. Whoever did them was obviously talented. I wouldn't mind collecting them, except I have no idea who. 'ryden'?

[jcoleman26491]

@silva0sagittarius You sir, are very closed minded, you no nothing of his work and its meaning, your afraid of it

[silva0sagittarius]

Soooo.... basically blood and nudity and evil, all around such things like little girls and stuffed animals, which are the embodiment of innocence. The description of this is bull crap. They just throw a bunch of huge words at people to make them think this guy is a revolutionary, when in reality, he is quite disturbed. Just.... weird. Creepy. Couldn't even watch all the way.

[Jcsharitz]

Copy of Keane. Copy of the World of anime and of Tim Burton. Nothing original about Ryden.

[MrBENJiVids]

Fuckin weird who ever made this has autism and did acid

[darkallegiance666]

Innocence despoiled?