Okay, so the video is beyond crazy and is stranger than anything I have ever seen on youtube. I'm not sure how I even found this video, but I think it just appeared on the homepage one day and instantly I was interested in finding out more about Mark Ryden the artist behind this strange, weird, fantasy video. Apparently since the early 90’s he’s been a leader in an art movement known as “Technique and disquieting content'” that happened on the West Coast. I feel like its antique with a hint of whimsy and many of his paintings seem to hint at dark tones. At first Ryden’s work seems like surrealists fascination with subconscious and collective memories, but it really is all about cultural influences. Its like taking something sweet that we all love and filling its environment with unsettling circumstances. It’s odd, but familiar and slightly shocking in how child like it all feels….Here is a piece from an article about his work:
Viewers are initially drawn in by the comforting beauty of Ryden’s pop-culture references, then challenged by their circumstances, and finally transported to the artist’s final intent – a world where creatures speak from a place of childlike honesty about the state of mankind and our relationships with ourselves, each other and our past.
These are some of my favorite paintings from him and look for the religious symbolism and pop color of his subjects.
“The Butcher Bunny”
“The Creatrix”
“Yoshi”
Check out more of his more controversial and interesting pieces at www.markryden.com
