Children are terrifying beasts - miniature humans, engorged of head and evil-eyed. Mark Ryden's obsessive oils reveal these pastel-pink creatures, pulled by bunnies, bearing whips, and painted up pretty in swastika suits. "When I was a child," he admits, "my teachers would wonder why my drawings of dogs would have their intestines showing." Asked to describe something that was 'pure Ryden', he once said, "A taxidermied monkey, in a dusty glass case at a small museum on the outskirts of some foreign town that you could swear just moved its eyes."

In his work, there are toys, Teletubbies, mythical monsters, religious icons, skulls, snakes, medical implements and slabs of meat. Lots and lots of meat. He's designed album covers for Red Hot Chili Peppers and Michael Jackson, painted portraits of Bjrk, Leonardo DiCaprio and Christina Ricci, and has the pleasure of seeing his drawings tattooed on thousands of teenaged shoulders. Talking about his latest exhibition, Wondertoonel, named after an 18th-century book of taxidermy etchings, he wallows in the glory of museums: "Things I find to be strange I also often find to be elevating. I frequently go to the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, where a deathtrap for prehistoric mammals has become a treasure trove of fossils." He hoards stuff like a nervous old lady:

"I do seem to gravitate to old toys, religious items, medical items, old children's books, and strange characters in the form of an old decrepit stuffed animal or other toy. I like toys that are supposed to be cute but actually look a bit strange or scary," he says. "It is interesting how, from the endless sea of stuff out there, certain things jump out."

Mark Ryden works at night. Once, he recalls, "the distinct smell of walnuts in the air broke my concentration. It was very quiet. A strange breeze gently blew through my studio. I suddenly became aware of something on my shoulder. Surprisingly, I was not startled to find a wee Abraham Lincoln sitting right there on my shoulder. We looked at each other for just a moment. Then he very softly whispered in my ear, 'Paint Meat...'."

*For more about Mark visit Wondertoonel.com and www.markryden.com