Katy Perry recently told reporters she's interested in getting into art collecting, but now she's been turned into an actual work of art. She's the subject of one of the paintings in The Gay '90's: West, a new exhibition by artist Mark Ryden. Not only that, but she's also appearing on a concept album Ryden has created to accompany the exhibit.
Ryden's work is described as "pop surrealism," and takes inspiration from old toys and stuffed animals, anatomical models, skeletons and other odd, mysterious items found in flea markets. His paintings also feature images of little girls with round heads and large eyes, and he's adapted that style to depict Katy in one of the paintings, which he calls Katy Aphrodite.
Asked how he came to paint Katy, Ryden tells The Hollywood Reporter that his 11-year-old niece told him that the singer was a fan of his. "I guess she had mentioned me in some interviews. I just got to meet her, and we were admirers of each other, and I asked her, and she did it," he explained.
As for the album, it's called The Gay Nineties Old Tyme Music: Daisy Bell, and it consists of nothing but famous musicians singing their own renditions of the same song, "Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)." You may know it as "Daisy, Daisy/give me your answer true." Katy performs her take on the song, as does as Kirk Hammett of Metallica, Weird Al Yankovic and '80s New Wave stars Mark Mothersbaugh ofDevo and Stan Ridgeway of Wall of Voodoo.
There only 999 copies of the album available, all hand-numbered and signed by Ryden. Each costs $99.99, and half will be sold at the Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles, where the exhibit is being staged, and half on Ryden's website, starting May 13. Proceeds from the albums will benefit Little Kids Rock, a non-profit that supports musical education in elementary schools.
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