Opening April 29th at Paul Kasmin Gallery in New York City, is the latest exhibition by artist Mark Ryden entitled The Gay 90’s: Old Tyme Art Show. In the past Ryden has shown an incredibly unique style, impossible to categorize as it seems to show little semblance or influence from a specific style or era.

Ryden shows a particular fascination with doll-like images co-existing with raw slabs of meat, creating surreal and dichotomic environments.

Ryden explains why meat makes for such good subject matter:

“Beyond the conceptual impact, meat simply has a very strong visual quality. The wonderful variety of textures and patterns in the marbling of the meat is sumptuous. Subtle pinks gently swirl around with rich vermillions and fatty yellow ochres. These visual qualities alone are seductive enough to make meat the subject of a work of art. Meat is glorious to paint. It is so easy to transcend the representational to the abstract. Meat has been a subject for painters from Rembrandt to Van Gogh.”

The Gay 90’s: Old Tyme Art Show runs until June 5.

[via Laughing Squid]