Mark Ryden is a prolific artist and this picture book was published in conjunction with his art exhibition “The Tree Show” held at the Michael Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles in 2007. It is not a children’s picture book per se, though the beautiful pictures encourage your imagination and you can make your own story while exploring them.
Disclaimer: the pictures are beautiful and sinister…
GIRL EATEN BY A TREE oil on canvas with carved teak wood frame (not shown here )
GOODBYE BEAR oil on panel
ALLEGORY OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS oil on canvas with carved teak wood frame (not shown here)
NURSE SUE oil on wood
YOSHI oil on canvas with carved teak wood fram (not shown here)
My comment:
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.
Technical skill, richness of detail and love of nature characterize the work of this artist and that is why he inspires me so much. In my opinion, these paintings are accessible to children and they are great to study if you want to improve your own ability to draw and paint. See how the colors are used to show form, volume and depth. In these particular pictures I detect a sadness that disclose how the artist feel about what happens to nature and in this case, especially to the woods. I close my blog entry with a quote from Mark Ryden:
Trees work in mysterious ways. A branch from a tree is a miniature replica of the whole tree. I believe that if there is indeed a secret to the universe and a meaning to life, I am sure it would be found inside of a tree.
This blog entry is dedicated to Johanna Stenberg who likes pop surrealism. Hej Johanna!