This American master is considered the king of pop surrealism, and critics call him Tim Burton of painting. The artist Mark Ryden, who draws his inspiration from book illustrations and good music, loves Carroll's works, and he is very flattered by comparing his characters with the heroes of fairy tales about Alice.
Real master
Mark Ryden, who was born in 1963 in Oregon, knew from early childhood that he would paint. He enters the prestigious college of art and design, and after graduation, arranges his personal exhibition of works. In the 90s of the last century, when painters advocated a return to the forgotten sources of art, Raiden invented a technique that is distinguished by its mastery of execution and provocative content.
Now he creates in Los Angeles, in his studio, which he organized together with his wife, working in the same technique. His collection includes more than a hundred paintings in oil and watercolor sketches.
Own style
One of the most popular artists of our time created his own style, combining pop culture with the methods of other masters. Pictures, in which the boundaries between high and low art are blurred, always attract the attention of viewers, and unusual works have long gained loyal fans around the world. No wonder his gloomy paintings are successfully exhibited in galleries.
Fantasy and deceitful innocence
What Mark Ryden does can be described as a mix of strange eerie-cute images that hint at deep things under the guise of kitsch. The artist is incredibly proud of the fact that he breathed life into a beautiful painting. And he calls imagination his main power and often recalls his childhood, when it was very easy to fantasize.
In his paintings there is no bright light and clear shadows, and pastel colors emphasize the tenderness of elven characters. However, the hypertrophied innocence of pretty girls only lures the viewer who is unaware of the dark side of cute heroes.
Distance from your characters
“My works are products of my time,” says Mark Ryden. The paintings on which the immaculate characters are beyond the boundaries of good and evil are too deceiving and provocative, but that is why they do not become kitsch, but a real work of modern art. It should be noted that the artist has a good command of a hint system that provokes the limitless imagination of a wise spectator. At the same time, Raiden distances himself from his portrayed heroes, and this makes his paintings cult for fans.
A monkey that creates masterpieces
Mark Ryden shocked the public, claiming that it was not him, and the monkey coming to him creates a frightening and alluring magical world. Allegedly, she creates in complete silence under cover of night, and he only helps to do everything so that a new image appears. And if you think too much, then nothing will work out, so the artist disables logical thinking and releases sleeping sensations.
When this happens on an unconscious level, everything turns out, and every evening the author waits for a fairy monkey, takes paints and creates with it.
Allegorical characters
Opening the inner world of big-eyed girls and strange animals, Mark Ryden as if opens the door to the viewer into a secret life. His paintings are full of deep symbolism, alchemical and even religious signs, and to all who stare at the American works, another reality opens up where there is room for imagination and the ability to be surprised.
Allegorical images, which many people find difficult to understand, perplex the astonished spectator who begins to search for meaning in the fictional characters of Ryden. And the artist himself sees his task in making the audience look at the works through the eyes of the author himself and feel the world as the creator feels it.
Rama as a mediator between two worlds
The author’s message is also manifested in the unusual design of creations: for each picture that is exhibited in world galleries, Raiden picks up frames and even makes them with his own hands. The master believes that this is not just a frame of his works, but a mediator that separates the fantasy world from the real one.
Mark Ryden, whose biography is a story about the formation of a creative person, knows how to combine sophistication and kitsch. This he earned the glory of the successful artist of America. Raiden balances without crossing the fine line, and creates for himself, not for the audience, believing that deliberately following the audience’s lead is very dangerous.