Mark Ryden’s artwork has been described as captivating and unnerving, mysterious and fascinating, haunting, mystical, tender and terrifying all at once.

Ryden has been referred to as the king of the Pop Surrealism movement. Mix cheerful images of children with puzzling pieces of body parts or strange sights in nature, forming a strange mix of images from children’s books and flesh or blood. Driven by alchemy, metaphysics, science and philosophy and drawn to ancient cryptic symbols and mystical imagery, Mark Ryden produces incredible storybook artwork that is stunning yet haunting.

Ryden’s artwork mixes saccharine-sweet cartoon characters with detailed fullness and a creepy mix of numerology, little girls, meat, Catholic and Buddhist symbolism, and American carnivalesque. Fascinated by things that take him back to childhood memories, Mark Ryden frequently incorporates toys, as well as scenes of bunnies, children, clowns, and ice cream trucks, casually joined with skulls and steaks.

From large highly polished oil paintings to small black and white works on paper, Mark Ryden burst onto the art scene in the 1990s as a pop art illustrator and fine art painter. His artwork has gained further popularity due to publications such as Juxtapoz which features his art regularly, and his artwork on many album covers such as Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous”, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “One Hot Minute”, ” Sweet Heart Dealer” by Scarling. as well as covers by Ringo Starr and Jack Off Jill. Ryden’s art can also be seen on the dust jacket of the Stephen King novels “Despair” and “The Regulators”.

Many people have become fans after Chris Garver did a replica of Ryden’s “Rose” print at Miami Ink and his work is now highly sought after for tattoos. However, it takes a highly talented artist to be able to recreate his distinctive masterpieces.

“Rose,” a gothic girl crying tears of blood, is the most popular of her paintings to be translated to skin, though many others have also made the leap, including “Fountain,” a painting of a girl holding her head while blood oozes out of it. neck, “Nurse Sue” and “Dog Named Jesus”.

“I find it much easier to have creative freedom at night. Daytime is for sleeping. Nighttime is the best time to make art. The later the night comes, the more you enter another world.” -Mark Ryden