Mark Bryan's "The Beast" 

Mark Bryan was born and raised in southern California. As a child of the fifties and sixties, Bryan could not avoid soaking up the pop culture and angst of that time and place. Although most known for his political work savaging the Bush administration, Bryan also directs many of his efforts inward, producing work from the imagination. He has exhibited his work throughout the US, Canada, Europe and Japan. His work appears on numerous satirical and political websites across the US and internationally. 

"I believe all of us have endless landscapes to explore within ourselves. Probably artists are more inclined to got to these places and remember what they see. We take our sketchbooks with sand bring back pictures to show our friends. Hopefully these pictures say something about all of us."

www.artofmarkbryan.com

This piece is from Bryan's circus gallery, in which the works contain humor, parody, symbolism, satire, pop surrealism, as well as social comment.

I chose this painting because it portrays the darker reality under the mysticism of the circus.