The official website of Mark Ryden, a contemporary artist known for his surrealist paintings and pop culture references.

Blending themes of pop culture with techniques reminiscent of the old masters, 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.

ryden x barbie. animal secrets. yakalina 9. anima animals. whipped cream. dodecahedron. the gay 90's west. the gay 90's. the snow yak show. the tree show. blood. bunnies & bees. the meat show. galleries one - three.

While his standing as a commercial artist grew, Ryden's commitment to pursuing a fine art career gained solid footing as well. His first paintings appeared in Sideshow, a group exhibition at the Tamara Bane Gallery in Los Angeles in 1994.

Without a doubt, Mark Ryden is one of the biggest names in contemporary art right now. His works have attracted hordes of admirers, from celebrities to museum board members to Goth high school kids. But that is not the really interesting thing about the artist.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2022 “Animal Secrets”, Perrotin Gallery, Paris, France "Yakalina 9", Perrotin Gallery, Tokyo, Japan “Pink Pop - Ryden x Barbie”, Kasmin Gallery Pop Up, Los Angeles, CA 2020 "Anima Animals", Perrotin Gallery , Shanghai, China

These strange and surreal images populate Mark Ryden’s paintings. Critics consider the 48-year-old painter a member of the so-called Lowbrow movement, an underground, populist, and pop-culture-infused art scene with its origins in 1970s Southern California.

Mark Ryden does not celebrate evil, even in its most campy denatured form. Quite to the contrary, his art-making can be seen as an elaborate charade of avoidance towards life’s grimmer realities. His is an utterly pure infantilistic escapism.

Subtle pinks gently swirl around with rich vermillions and fatty yellow ochres. These visual qualities alone are seductive enough to make meat the subject of a work of art. Meat is glorious to paint. It is so easy to transcend the representational to the abstract. Meat has been a subject for painters from Rembrandt to Van Gogh. – Mark Ryden

The Meat Show. Mendenhall Gallery, Pasadena, California, 1998. The Angel of Meat. The Ecstasy of Cecelia