Mark Ryden is an American painter, part of the Lowbrow (or Pop Surrealist) art movement. He was dubbed "the god-father of pop surrealism" by "Interview Magazine".
Background
Mark Ryden was born on January 20, 1963 in Medford, Oregon, United States, but was raised in Southern California, United States.
Ryden is the son of Barbara and Keith Ryden. His father made a living painting, restoring and customizing cars. He has two sisters and two brothers, one a fellow artist named Keyth Ryden, who works under the name KRK.
Education
Ryden graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 1987 with a BFA degree.
Career
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.
From 1988 to 1998 Ryden made his living as a commercial artist. During this period he created numerous album covers including Danger Danger’s debut album "Danger Danger", Michael Jackson's "Dangerous", the 4 Non Blondes' "Bigger, Better, Faster, More!", the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "One Hot Minute", Jack Off Jill's "Clear Hearts Grey Flowers", the Screaming Trees' "Uncle Anesthesia", Marcy Playground, Shapeshifter and Aerosmith's" Love in an Elevator". Also during this time, Ryden created book covers including Stephen King's novels "Desperation" and "The Regulators".
Ryden’s solo debut show entitled "The Meat Show" was in Pasadena, California in 1998.
A midcareer retrospective, "Wondertoonel" was co-organized in 2004 by the Frye Museum in Seattle and the Pasadena Museum of California Art.
In 2007, "The Tree Show" opened at the Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles. In this show Ryden explores the modern human experience of nature. Ryden has also created limited editions of his art to raise money for the Sierra Club and Nature Conservancy.
In 2009, Ryden's exhibition "The Snow Yak Show" was shown at the Tomio Koyama Gallery in Tokyo. In this exhibition his compositions were more serene and suggestive of solitude, peacefulness and introspection.
"The Gay 90’s: Old Tyme Art Show" was first shown at Paul Kasmin Gallery in New York in 2010. The central theme of the show referenced the idealism and sentimentalism of the 1890s while addressing the role of kitsch and nostalgia in our current culture.
Ryden's "The Tree of Life" painting was included in the exhibition "The Artist's Museum, Los Angeles Artists 1980-2010" at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA).
On May 13, 2014, Ryden released an album entitled The Gay Nineties Old Tyme Music: Daisy Bell, featuring Tyler the Creator, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Katy Perry, Stan Ridgway of Wall Of Voodoo, Danny Elfman, Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo, Nick Cave, scarling., Kirk Hammett of Metallica, and Everlast, all giving a different rendition of the same song, "Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)".
Ryden also developed costumes and sets for a two-act ballet titled "Whipped Cream" premiered at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California, on March 2017.
Mark Ryden currently lives and works in Portland, Oregon.
Ryden’s solo debut show entitled "The Meat Show" was in Pasadena, California in 1998. Since then meat is a reoccurring theme in his work. He observes the disconnect in our contemporary culture between meat we use for food and the living, breathing creature it comes from. According to Ryden, meat is the physical substance that makes all of us alive and through which we exist in this reality. All of us are wearing our bodies, which are like a garment of meat.
In this show "The Tree Show", opened at the Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles in 2007, Ryden explores the modern human experience of nature.
Quotations:
"I suppose it is this contradiction that brings me to return to meat in my art."
"Some people look at these massive trees and feel a sort of spiritual awe looking at them, and then other people just want to cut them up and sell them, they only see a commodity."
Connections
In 2009 Ryden married artist Marion Peck in the Pacific Northwest rainforest. Mark has two children by a former marriage.