The macabre and kitsch meet in the work of Mark Ryden‘s new exhibit, The Gay Nineties West. The pop-surrealist artist will be the first talent exhibited at the brand new location of the 12,000 sq. ft Kohn Gallery space, which hosts its grand opening this Saturday. With the space’s inaugural exhibit, Ryden explores the theme of the “Gay ’90s,” a term coined during the roaring ’20s and harkening to the “simpler times” at the end of the 19th century. By utilizing morbid motifs alongside a period depiction of men and women (in bustled-dresses, for example), Ryden’s work pushes the viewer to ruminate on the disturbing, if not timeless questions of life, nostalgia, and mortality.