Mark Ryden x Barbie

Pink Pop at 8382 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA
October 21, 2022
  • Kasmin is thrilled to announce that Mattel Creations asked Mark Ryden to reimagine the iconic Barbie brand through his fantastical...

    Kasmin is thrilled to announce that Mattel Creations asked Mark Ryden to reimagine the iconic Barbie brand through his fantastical lens for a new exhibition and product collaboration. Mattel Creations tapped celebrated artist Mark Ryden to envision Barbie through the lens of his singular visual language and create specialty items that blur the lines between toys and collectible art. In developing Mark Ryden x Barbie, the artist has created a new body of work, including painting, sculpture and drawing which will be presented in an exhibition titled, Pink Pop on view in Los Angeles from November 11 through December 11, 2022. Mattel Creations will also offer a limited-edition collection of premium Barbie dolls designed to bring Ryden’s signature iconography to a collectible toy form for the first time.

    Ryden first garnered attention in the early 1990s, ushering in the Pop Surrealism movement which developed the scope and spirit of 20th century surrealism by embellishing its vocabulary with contemporary cultural references. Blending these themes with techniques reminiscent of the old masters, Ryden has devised a singular style that blurs traditional boundaries. With childhood innocence and the divine powers of femininity acting as themes in Ryden’s work, Barbie is an authentic tie and a familiar subject to the artist. In 1994, Ryden painted Saint Barbie, which is one of his most recognized paintings.

  • About the Artist

    Mark Ryden
    Portrait by Christopher French.

    Mark Ryden

    Blending themes of pop culture with techniques reminiscent of the old masters, Mark Ryden has devised a singular style that blurs traditional boundaries. His work first garnered attention in the 1990s as he ushered in a new genre of painting, “Pop Surrealism,” which developed the scope and spirit of the 20th century surrealism by embellishing its vocabulary with contemporary cultural references.

    Ryden’s work exquisitely renders a universe replete with fantastical characters amid enchanted landscapes that embody the artist’s meticulously realized signature blend of archetype, kitsch, and narrative mysticism. Ryden’s modern mythologies inseparably interweave twin senses of comfort and menace. “Most of my work engages with the relationship between the physical world and the spiritual world,” he has said. His are scenes that exist in the ambiguous space between these two realms, in which nostalgia—and by extension memory, even death—are ever-present.

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  • “Barbie has made appearances in my art for a long time. It is difficult to define Barbie. She is a cultural phenomenon, an archetypal figure. She is a bona fide celebrity, a subject worthy for Andy Warhol to portray alongside the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe… It has been an amazing experience to work with Barbie. The body of work in Pink Pop are my own new personas for her,” says Mark Ryden.

    “From the start, Mark Ryden has been an advocate for the idea that toys inspire art and that toys are also a canvas for artists to express themselves,” says Richard Dickson, President and Chief Operating Officer, Mattel. “Having a relationship with such a wildly talented visionary further elevates the mission of our Mattel Creations platform. The collaboration also creates highly collectible art pieces that effortlessly blend the Barbie aesthetic with Mark’s own signature iconography in both delightfully unexpected oil paintings and Barbie dolls that push boundaries.”

    The exhibition, hosted jointly by Mattel Creations and Kasmin, will feature three new oil paintings, an exquisitely detailed watercolor on paper, a monumental hand-painted sculpture in wood, a major new bronze dodecahedron, and a range of drawings and studies, as well as the Mark Ryden x Barbie dolls that encapsulate each motif. Ryden has placed Barbie at the center of his imaginary world, surrounded by enchanted landscapes that are interwoven with the artist’s personal symbolism and enigmatic mythologies. A centerpiece of the exhibition is Ryden’s masterful painting, Pink Pop, which embodies the artist’s and Barbie’s love of the color pink and brings Ryden’s magical universe to life with his signature iconography including snow yaks, bunnies, bees and Abraham Lincoln. Ryden’s first depiction of Barbie, Saint Barbie (1994) will also be on view for the duration of the exhibition.

    Mark Ryden x Barbie Pink Pop will be exhibited in a special pop-up gallery at 8382 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90069 from November 11 through December 11, 2022. 

    The Pink Pop exhibition presented by Mattel Creations and Kasmin will feature Ryden’s new body of work and related past works, installed along with Ryden-designed limited-edition Barbie dolls and accessories that personify Pop Surrealism. The full capsule and accessories will be available at the Pink Pop exhibition exclusively for one week and available for purchase online at MattelCreations.com starting November 18, 2022.