Mel Ramos

Mel Ramos was born in Sacramento, California and studied, in the late 50’s  at Sacramento State College for both his Bachelor and Master’s degrees.

 

He is a leading America Pop Artist, and like his contemporaries Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, has explored aspects of popular culture by appropriating images from the mass media.

 

Ramos’ first artistic engagement with the world of popular culture, in 1962, was a series of brightly coloured pictures of cartoon superheroes.

 

By 1965, he had begun to focus upon idealised female nudes, such as those found in pin ups, magazines and calendars. 

He has pursued this theme throughout his artistic career.

 

His work is affectionate and celebratory and often includes a humorous element, juxtaposing his nudes with giant burgers, cola bottles or hot dogs.

 

He often works from photographs he has taken himself, sometimes combining elements of several. For example, he may add the head of one model to the torso of another.

 

His style is meticulously detailed, almost photo-realistic, and achieved in part because he uses magnifying spectacles and works very close to the picture surface.

 

Mel Ramos has been involved in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe.

 

His work is held by many major public collections, including, in New York,  the Guggenheim, the Museum of Modern Art  and the  Whitney Museum as well as museums and galleries throughout the USA and in Europe.

 

He has held numerous teaching posts, most recently at California State University.

 

Ramos divides his time between homes in California and Spain.