Mark Ryden
Pinxit, Art Edition, 2011
Silk-screen print, 35.5 x 48 cm, hardcover volume, leather-bound, with embossing, in cloth-covered clamshell box, 37.5 x 50 cm, 366 pages
Edition of 50 plus 20 artist's proofs
Signed by Mark Ryden
9783836525800
Copyright The Artist
Photo: TASCHEN
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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...
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. He has trumped the initial surrealist strategies by choosing subject matter loaded with cultural connotation.
Ryden’s vocabulary ranges from cryptic to cute, treading a fine line between nostalgic cliché and disturbing archetype. Seduced by his infinitely detailed and meticulously glazed surfaces, the viewer is confronted with the juxtaposition of the childhood innocence and the mysterious recesses of the soul. A subtle disquiet inhabits his paintings; the work is achingly beautiful as it hints at darker psychic stuff beneath the surface of cultural kitsch. In Ryden’s world cherubic girls rub elbows with strange and mysterious figures. Ornately carved frames lend the paintings a baroque exuberance that adds gravity to their enigmatic themes.
Pinxit, whose title refers to the Latin term meaning “painted by,” is organized by the themes of Ryden’s major exhibitions and covers nearly two decades of Ryden’s practice. The volume includes commentaries by Yoshitomo Nara, Carlo McCormick, and others, as well as a new essay by culture critic Kristine McKenna. Quarter-bound with leather spine and a gold-relief embossed cover, the monograph reproduces Ryden’s paintings and drawings to the highest standard on archival-quality paper and features over a dozen paintings as fold-outs, opening to a staggering 150 cm (59 inches) across.
This Art Edition of 50 numbered copies (No. 1–50), each signed by the artist, comes with an eight-color silk-screen print on fine handmade paper from Bhutan, and is embossed with a beautifully hand-sculpted bee and printer’s chop.
The artist: Mark Ryden received a BFA in 1987 from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. His paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including a retrospective Wondertoonel at the Frye Museum of Art in Seattle and Pasadena Museum of California Art, and in the exhibition The Artist’s Museum at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles.
Ryden’s vocabulary ranges from cryptic to cute, treading a fine line between nostalgic cliché and disturbing archetype. Seduced by his infinitely detailed and meticulously glazed surfaces, the viewer is confronted with the juxtaposition of the childhood innocence and the mysterious recesses of the soul. A subtle disquiet inhabits his paintings; the work is achingly beautiful as it hints at darker psychic stuff beneath the surface of cultural kitsch. In Ryden’s world cherubic girls rub elbows with strange and mysterious figures. Ornately carved frames lend the paintings a baroque exuberance that adds gravity to their enigmatic themes.
Pinxit, whose title refers to the Latin term meaning “painted by,” is organized by the themes of Ryden’s major exhibitions and covers nearly two decades of Ryden’s practice. The volume includes commentaries by Yoshitomo Nara, Carlo McCormick, and others, as well as a new essay by culture critic Kristine McKenna. Quarter-bound with leather spine and a gold-relief embossed cover, the monograph reproduces Ryden’s paintings and drawings to the highest standard on archival-quality paper and features over a dozen paintings as fold-outs, opening to a staggering 150 cm (59 inches) across.
This Art Edition of 50 numbered copies (No. 1–50), each signed by the artist, comes with an eight-color silk-screen print on fine handmade paper from Bhutan, and is embossed with a beautifully hand-sculpted bee and printer’s chop.
The artist: Mark Ryden received a BFA in 1987 from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. His paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including a retrospective Wondertoonel at the Frye Museum of Art in Seattle and Pasadena Museum of California Art, and in the exhibition The Artist’s Museum at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles.