Blending themes of pop cultures with techniques reminiscent of the old masters, Mark Ryden has created a singular style that blurs the traditional boundaries between high and low art. His work first garnered attentioin in the 1990s when he ushereed in a new genre of painting, Pop Surrealsim, dragging a host of followers in his wake. Ryden has trumped the inital surrealist strategies by choosing ubject matter loaded with cultural connotation. Ryden's vocabulary ranges from cryptic to cute, treading a fine line between nostalgic clichee and disturbing archetype. Seduced by his infinitely detailed an dmeticulously glazed surfaces the viewers is confronted with juxtaposition of the childhood innocence and the mysterious recesses of the sould. A subtle disquiet inhabits his apintings; the work is achingly beautiful as it hints at darker psychich stuff beneath the surface of cultural kitsch. His painting shave been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide including a career-spanning retrospective at the Centro de Arte Contemporaneo of Malaga as well as an earlier retrospective at the Frye Museum of Art in Seattle and Pasadena Museum of California Art.