The Tree Show in Los Angeles

The Tree Show, a solo exhibition by painter Mark Ryden, opened at the Michael Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles this week, where it runs until April 28. Ryden is an influential artist associated with the "Lowbrow" movement and Juxtapoz magazine. His work ranges from the whimsical to the visceral and deeply disturbing.

Born in Oregon, Ryden received a BFA from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and now lives and works in Los Angeles. As the biographical section of Ryden's website notes, his work began to be widely known during the 1990s, "a time when many artists, critics and collectors were quietly championing a return to the art of painting. With his masterful technique and disquieting content, Ryden quickly became one of the leaders of this movement on the West Coast. Upon first glance Ryden’s work seems to mirror the Surrealists’ fascination with the subconscious and collective memories. However, Ryden transcends the initial Surrealists’ strategies by consciously choosing subject matter loaded with cultural connotation. His dewy vixens, cuddly plush pets, alchemical symbols, religious emblems, primordial landscapes and slabs of meat challenge his audience not necessarily with their own oddity but with the introduction of their soothing cultural familiarity into unsettling circumstances."

To see a full range of Ryden's paintings, from fanciful to horrific, visit his website. For more information about "The Tree Show," visit the Michael Kohn Gallery website. If you'd like to view works in this vein by other artists, visit the websites of painters Marion Peck and Ana Bagayan, and photographer Loretta Lux. 

Comments

[Rob Blake]

Ryden's painting 'Dead Characters' http://www.markryden.com/paintings/two/dead.html reminds me of _Shadows_Fall_ by Simon R. Green.

[Chris]

I've loved Ryden's work since I discovered him in Juxtapoz. Very "pop-py" yet still so much meaning and thought in his paintings.