Incarnation (detail), by Mark Ryden (Oil on panel, 2009).
NEW PAINTING!
The Meat Dancer, by Mark Ryden. (Oil on canvas, 75 x 50 inches, 2011).
Art Basel Miami Beach
Mark will have a new painting at Art Basel Miami Beach from December 1st through December 4th, at the Michael Kohn booth (Booth K10). The Preview and Vernissage are on Wednesday, November 30th. More info.
Interviewer: What did you think of Lady Gaga’s meat dress?
Mark Ryden: I got quite a flurry of e-mails that day after the awards show. It had been only a few months prior that I had exhibited my “meat dress” painting in New York. Indeed, after several other incidences (Gaga’s use of blood, tears etc.), it does seem less and less likely to be mere coincidence. On the other hand, I am certainly not the only one to use the theme of meat in their art, and I am not the first to use meat as clothing (Jana Sterbak, Zhang Huan, etc.). I don’t think Lady Gaga was making any kind of political statement in wearing the meat dress. I think her motivation was simply to get attention. And that she certainly did! (meatpaper magazine, 2011).
If an image is made stronger by including a nice slab of meat, then I will use it.
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Mark Ryden (meatpaper magazine, 2011). |
The Meat Magi, by Mark Ryden. (Oil on canvas, 1997).
The first painting I ever did that contained meat was called The Meat Magi, which I painted in 1997. It depicts an idyllic 1950s neighborhood with excited children running up to what would seem to be a brightly painted ice cream truck. Instead of selling ice cream, the commodity is actually meat. (meatpaper magazine, 2011).
