Mark Ryden X Creatura
An imaginative animal kingdom unfolds in Creatura, a new print from Mark Ryden available through Porterhouse Editions that will benefit Creatura Wildlife Projects. “Animals live in the same world we do, but with a profoundly different consciousness. We can see how naturally and effortlessly animals inhabit the present moment. Their lives may appear precarious, any day they could end up in the jaws of a predator, but they aren’t overwhelmed by that possibility,” says Ryden. “Instead, they move through life with a kind of serene acceptance. They aren’t burdened by the anxieties that consume us as humans. I find the spiritual presence in animals deeply inspiring.”
This is Ryden’s fourth print benefiting the organization founded by Kirsten Anderson of Seattle’s long-running gallery Roq La Rue. Creatura Wildlife Projects organizes safaris to conservation areas while supporting local communities and wildlife initiatives. For Anderson, there is a strong connection between art and nature.
“I think my deep love for animals and their welfare is absolutely shared by the artists I show and the collectors who buy the work,” says Anderson. “I think if you really love art, which is one of the better components of humanity—then it makes sense that you’d also be caring/fascinated about the other creatures we share our planet with. Animals are the first things our ancestors painted in caves—so there’s a long lineage of ‘animal art,’ and a traditional of expressing the mystical through animal imagery which a lot of artists are attuned to.”
ANIMALS LIVE IN THE SAME WORLD WE DO, BUT WITH A PROFOUNDLY DIFFERENT CONSCIOUSNESS.”
Both Ryden and the collector who commissioned the original had been on the Creatura safari. In the painting, Ryden depicts creatures whose appearance blurs the line between reality and fantasy. Joining them in this leafy, pink and green landscape is a young woman who looks on with wonder at the peaceful scene.
“The animals in the new print are all absolutely fantastical—but a couple are inspired by animals we saw while traveling together in Kenya—such as elephants and giant snails,” says Anderson. “The environment seems to me to be a classic Ryden-esque edenic landscape. It’s very much a ‘peaceable kingdom’ image, which is not always the case in real life! The person and animals are all around a Merkaba—a symbol of spiritual ascension and divine connection—which are things you very much feel in moments when immersed in the wild.”
The whimsical image also speaks to the real need to reconnect humans with nature. “I think there’s a real sense of loss within humans that we have lost a connection to nature and animals as fellow, equal beings that the earth belongs to just as much as us. Sadly, that’s not the case now and humans wreck so much for other species (and wreck our own mental health by destroying the planet),” says Anderson. “But there are people who care and are doing what they can to find solutions to the mass extinction event that’s happening around us. Any action is needed—I encourage anyone to get creatively involved if they feel compelled to do so—we all need you!”*
For full information on the Creatura limited edition lithographic benefit poster being releases October 14th, including edition size and release details, see Porterhouse here.
Our next print issue of Hi-Fructose Magazine arrives in stores Jan. 1st, 2016! Featured in this issue is: A glaringly awesome cover by Japanese art icon Keiichi Tanaami. Tanaami’s history and story is amazing, and the result of which is a unique eye-splitting body of work we’re happy to bring to you in print. Plus Riikka Hyvönen’s “Derby Kisses”, Tip Toland’s meaningful hyper-real sculptures, Yellena James’ beautiful painted floral explosions, Mark Ryden’s latest show Dodecahedron, and the mighty ink pen of Kim Jung Gi. We follow this with extensive features on Eric White’s paintings of a Hollywood-gone-bizarro, Chris Mars’ frighteningly beautiful world, Yoshitoshi Kanemaki’s amazing multi-expressional sculptures, and painter Margaret Bowland’s immersive work about power and identity. Also in this issue, punk rock historian and RE/Search founder V.Vale delves into the new photography book Shot in the Dark: Collected Photography by David Arnoff, plus much more! Pre-order copies direct from us here!
The works of Italian artist Paolo Pedroni capture a whimsical and dark world populated by child-like maidens with an aristocratic flair. Though his art is often compared to a cross between Pop Surrealist, Mannerist and Baroque painting, it wasn't until very recently that Pedroni discovered the Pop Surrealism genre, and he especially gravitated towards the works of Mark Ryden. More than than anything, Pedroni sees his work as a combination of two worlds- the real world in which we live and the fantasy of his own imagination. At first working in street art and graffiti, he eventually ventured into digital art, and most recently, oil painting. With each piece, Pedroni balances elements that are sweet, strange, and decidedly unnerving.
There are many great artists whose primary medium include pencil and paper, but the artist's sketch is not always intended as a finished work. A sketch may serve a number of purposes: it might record something that the artist sees, it might develop an idea for later use or it might be used as a quick way of graphically demonstrating an image. For those who refer to drawing to work out their ideas, a sketch becomes a rare piece seldom shared with their audience. As such, there is a special air of mystery that is associated with drawings. We've featured artists' drawings in our Sketchbook Series on our blog, and in our print issues, where we've shone a light on scarcely shown sketch work by artists like Marco Mazzoni, and Femke Hiemstra, and Mark Ryden, to name a few. A new group exhibition "Lápiz, Papel o Tijera" (Pencil, Paper, Scissors) at Plastic Murs gallery in Spain aims to do the same for 30 artists.
On Saturday night, Heart N Soul Gallery in Culver City joined forces with some all-star New Contemporary artists to raise funds for the Aurelia Foundation. The foundation was created to provide funding and support for programs like "Step by Step", enriching the lives of disabled adults. The charity is very close to home for the gallerist, whose daughter is one of the many young adults that receive assistance from these programs. Among the artists who have contributed both original, new and previous works to the cause include AJ Fosick, Ana Bagayan, Bob Doucette, Clayton Bros, James Jean, Lola, Marion Peck, Mark Ryden, Martin Witfooth, Naoto Hattori, Nate Frizzell, Shepard Fairey, Steven Daily, and more.