Mark Ryden’s Yakalina Secrets

In his Pacific Northwest studio during the isolation of COVID-19, Mark Ryden began a series of his iconic half-animal, half-plush creatures that further explored his reverence for these beings, who are guides through a landscape of the unknown. The figures in these paintings are neither human nor animal, they are spiritual entities that create a bridge between the human and animal worlds in which so much disharmony exists.

Blending pop culture themes 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 attention in the 1990s when he ushered in a new genre of painting, ＂pop surrealism,＂ dragging a host of followers in his wake. Ryden has trumped the initial surrealist strategies by choosing topics loaded with cultural connotation. Follow him at markryden.com.