In a meticulous painting style, Los-Angeles artist Mark Ryden creates fantastical images that juxtapose cartoon-like animals with uncanny depictions of children. A graduate of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in the late 1980s, Ryden built his career as the lines between street art and painting were blurring, and his approach thrives on this pairing of high and low culture. In his series “The Gay 90s’” (which refers to the 1890s), he drew upon his large collection of books, toys, statues, and photographs to create depictions of the Victorian era that are both ominous and surreal. “I wanted to delve head-on into the realm of sentimentality, nostalgia, and kitsch, which are such taboo subjects in the art world.”