No artist can give you a glimpse into my psyche better than Mark Ryden. Take a look at these pictures and you’ll see a glimmer of my childhood. He creates a world in his paintings where I would gladly hop through the frame and run around in.  I’ve been needing some quality time with Abe Lincoln and the steak bunny lately.

There are plenty of artists out there doing similar work with childlike, characters in slightly twisted situations but none of them can capture an expression like this:

Or this:

Look at that fat bunny. Look as the children dance around him while he sweats. Sweat, tubby bunny do not fear. The children don’t care. See how the bunny is overwhelmed with anxiety. The children prance oblivious! Hahahaha. So good.

Mark Ryden represents the way like to approach art and for that matter see the world. Make it whatever you like, use your own symbols, it’s all in your head anyway. Who cares if Jimi hedrix is floating on a steak in your rear view mirror he’s simply there to make your day better.

Beyond the absurd situations you can look deeper and see the subtlety in all of the expressions (Or even the utterly devoid of expression). I know in each of these paintings I’ve seen an expression that I’ve felt personally or seen on someone else before. What makes it EVEN better is the combination of emotions he’ll put into a character…

Right there, you see it! That yak just said something that little girl did not like. Look at that yak. He knows he shouldn’t have said anything but he did it. He should have bit his toung but he let it slip and now that little girl is cross about it. Why…how could you, yak?

Anyway, where I was going with this was www.markryden.com. Go here and take your time.

If anyone should happen to be in St. Louis before September 19th

and that anyone should happen to be in Forest Park near the Art Museum–

then that someone should walk into the Art Museum and check out the latest video installation from Doug Aitken.

What you see: Wild animals enter or appear in various hotel rooms set free to do whatever they wish in the space. Some sit, others sniff, and some tare the place apart. Runtime: 18 minutes

This description doesn’t do the film justice. (no descriptions on this site will) But it’s quite good. There’s an excellent ambient soundtrack from some great artists.

If you like Mathew Barney then you’ll definitely like this. But even if you’ve never  seen a piece of video art in your life you’ll enjoy this. Read the rest of this entry →

I’ve been thinking a lot about Art School lately. Read the rest of this entry →