Mark Ryden
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Mark Ryden (b. 1963, Oregon) is an American fine-art painter.
Ryden studied Illustration and graduated from the Art Center in Pasadena, in 1987. His debut show was in New York City in 2001. He currently lives in Los Angeles, and has a studio on top of the famous Castle Green Hotel in Pasadena.
His work combines a hyper-cute cartoon-like sensibility - much like the doe-eyed Margaret Keane creatures of the 1960s - with a beautifully-detailed fullness and a creepy combination of numerology, little girls, Catholic and Buddhist symbolism, and carnivalesque Americana. His work ranges from large highly-polished oil paintings to small black-and-white works on paper. Like modern illustrators Dame Darcy and Edward Gorey, Ryden is influenced by the fantastic art of Alice in Wonderland illustrator John Tenniel. He is also inspired by Vienna School artists such as Ernst Fuchs, and early Renaissance landscapes.
His work has gained greater prominence within the public domain thanks to so-called lowbrow art publications such as Juxtapoz in which his work features regularly. In fact Ryden has collaborated with other lowbrow artists such as Gary Baseman and Tim Biskup.
Ryden has designed album covers for a very eclectic list of musicians, including Scarling., Ringo Starr, Oingo Boingo, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Butthole Surfers, Jack Off Jill, and Michael Jackson. His paintings are treasured by collectors all around the world. His celebrity clients include Stephen King, Leonardo DiCaprio, Danny Elfman, Chris Carter, Bridget Fonda, and famous anti-mogul Long Gone John.
His works have been compared to those of Joseph Cornell and Loretta Lux
- Blood Show (2005)
- Wondertoonel Paintings (2004)
- Bunnies and Bees (2002)
- The Art of Mark Ryden: Anima Mundi (2001)