PAUL KASMIN GALLERY PRESENTS 'THE GAY 90's: OLD TYME ART SHOW', AN EXHIBITION OF NEW PAINTINGS AND WORKS ON PAPER BY THE LOS ANGELES ARTIST MARK RYDEN. ON VIEW AT 293 TENTH STREET FROM 29.APRIL THROUGH 5.JUNE, THIS WILL BE RYDEN'S FIRST SIGNIFICANT SOLO SHOW IN NEW YORK SINCE 2003, AS WELL AS HIS FIRST WITH THE PAUL KASMIN GALLERY. IN HIS HAUNTINGLY BEAUTIFUL AND MASTERFULLY EXECUTED OIL PAINTINGS, RYDEN CREATES HIS OWN CONTEMPORARY MYTHOLOGIES WHOSE ARCHETYPES INCLUDE FAIRY TALE CREATURES, HISTORICAL FIGURES AND POP CULTURAL ICON. SEAMLESSLY JUXTAPOSING MACABRE MOTIFS, LIKE MEAT GRINDERS AND DISEMBODIED PRESIDENTS WITH EYE-PLEASING INGENUES AND SEDUCTIVE LANDSCAPES, THE ARTIST PRODUCES A VISION OF SOCIETY IN WHICH MENACE AND COMFORT ARE INSEPARABLY INTERWOVEN. THE LABOR-INTENSIVE CANVASSES DEFTLY REWORK CENTURIES OF ART HISTORY, COMBING THE GRANDEUR OF SPANISH AND ITALIAN RELIGIOUS PAINTING WITH THE DECORATIVE RICHNESS OF OLE MASTER COMPOSITIONS AND THE LUSH TEXTURES OF FRENCH NEO-CLASSICISM. THE CENTRAL THEME OF THE GAY 90's: OLD TYME ART SHOW REFERENCES THE IDEALISM OF THE 1890s WHILE ADDRESSING THE ROLE OF KITSCH AND NOSTALGIA IN OUR CURRENT CULTURE. 'IN THE MODERN ERA, SENTIMENTALITY AND BEAUTY HAVE BEEN DISDAINED IN THE ART WORLD', RYDEN SAID. 'THIS NEW WORK EXPLORES THE LINE BETWEEN ATTRACTION AND REPULSION TO KITSCH, AND BETWEEN BEAUTY AND BANALITY.' THROUGH THEIR VISUAL RICHNESS AND SYMBOLIC COMPLEXITY, RYDEN'S INFINITELY SUGGESTIVE DREAMSCAPES INVITE US TO ENTER THEIR WORLD AND TO INDULGE OUR SENSE OF WONDER.
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