American artist Mark Ryden - creator of strange works

This American master is considered the king of pop surrealism, and critics call him Tim Burton of painting. Artist Mark Ryden, drawing his inspiration in book illustrations and good music, adores Carroll's works, and he is very flattered by the comparison of his characters with the heroes of fairy tales about Alice.

This master

Mark Ryden, born in 1963 in Oregon, knew from early childhood that he would paint pictures. 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 invents a technique that is distinguished by its skill of execution and provocative content.

Now he creates in Los Angeles, in his studio, which he organized together with his wife, who works in the same technique. His collection includes more than a hundred paintings, written in oil, and watercolor sketches.

Own style

One of the most popular contemporary artists created his own style, combining pop culture with the methods of other masters. The paintings, in which the boundaries between high and low art are blurred, always attract the attention of the audience, and unusual works have long received loyal fans around the world. Not without reason, his gloomy paintings are successfully exhibited in galleries.

Fantasy and deceptive innocence

What Mark Ryden is doing can be described as a mix of strange, eerie-cute images, alluding to deep things under the guise of kitsch. The artist is incredibly proud of the fact that he breathed life into a beautiful picture. And he calls his main power imagination and often recalls 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 elf-like characters. However, the hypertrophied innocence of cute girls only lures the viewer, who does not suspect the dark side of the cute heroes.

Distancing from your characters

"My works are the products of my time," argues Mark Ryden. The paintings, on which the virgin characters are beyond the boundaries of good and evil, are too deceptive and provocative, but that's why they are not a kitsch, but a real work of modern art. It should be noted that the artist has a good idea of the system of allusions, which provoke the boundless imagination of the wise man experienced in life. At the same time, Raiden distances himself from his portrayed heroes, and this makes his paintings cult for fans.

Monkey, which creates masterpieces

Mark Ryden shocked the public, stating that it was not him, but the monkey coming to him creates a frightening and enticing magical world. Allegedly she creates in complete silence under the cover of night, and he only helps to do everything to create a new image. And if you think too much, it will not work, so the artist turns off the logical thinking and releases the 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 her.

Allegorical symbols

Revealing the inner world of big-eyed girls and strange animals, Mark Ryden as if opens the door to the audience in a secret life. His paintings are full of deep symbolism, alchemical and even religious signs, and anyone who looks closely at the American works opens another reality, where there is room for imagination and the ability to be surprised.

Allegorical images, in which many are difficult to understand, puzzle the amazed spectator, who begins to search for meaning in the fictional characters of Raiden. And the artist 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 intermediary between two worlds

The author's message also manifests itself in the unusual design of creations: for each painting that is exhibited in the world's galleries, Ryden selects the frames and even makes them with his own hands. The master believes that this is not just a frame of his works, but an intermediary that separates the invented world from the real.

Mark Ryden, whose biography is a story about the emergence of a creative person, knows how to combine sophistication and kitsch. This he earned the glory of a successful artist of America. Raiden balances, without stepping over the fine line, and creates for himself, and not for the audience, believing that deliberately going on about the audience is very dangerous.