One artist that I would like to introduce and also attempt to analyse is Mark Ryden. Not exactly a very prestigious artist per se(perhaps it is not fair of me to say that, but well, one has to admit that he certainly isn’t of Monet/Picasso/Pollock status, at least not yet), I discovered him only by chance through an icon community on livejournal. Before I make any further introduction, take a look at his works first:

Rosie’s Tea Party

The Magic Circus

Allegory of the Four Elements

Sweat

Spectaculum Carnis

The Meat Train

Balloon Boy

All of the above are done by oil on canvas. Click here to enter his official site to view more of his works.

Truly breathtaking, aren’t they? When I first saw his works, I thought, “damn, now that is some interesting modern art. I would like to own a piece or two of that.” Following that I immediately googled him up and looked through his entire gallery of works, and that only served to awe me further.

What makes Ryden so special is perhaps how his works are always a blend of innocence, pureness, morbidity, creepiness, and yet, enchanting beauty. His canvases are manifested with a miraculously absurd range of symbols; Lincoln, bees, freaky stuffed animals, Jesus statues, numerology, quotes from the world’s religious traditions, bodily fluids, and tons of wide-eyed Keane-esque children.

The children; yes, the children. His children, instead of playing with toys, are more likely to be seen carving slabs of meat or having tea with miniature, warped babies in a bird’s nest. All of them have this perpetually emotionless, cold, albeit innocent expression on their intricate faces; gazes fixed upon the sweet and shiny, the idealized and innocent, in deliberate denial of the more explicit alternatives. Ryden does not seem to want to deal with the notion of evil explicitly, but chooses to convey it in a disguised form, making the entire idea all the more haunting and unsettling.

Also, with so much meat in these paintings, you know it’s not just random. Ryden seems to have this childlike, even cannibalistic fascination with meat. Personally, I could think of no logical reason for the pervasiveness of this symbol – consumerism? industrialization? But then again, with Ryden, I doubt if we would ever know. Perhaps it has no real meaning. Maybe he just likes how meat looks, or… is exceptionally talented at painting meat. :/

No fairy tale is ever worth its weight in pixie dust if it doesn’t scare you just a little bit, and this is exactly why I adore Ryden’s works so much.:)