Bonnards Bath, 1979
Mel Ramos

Mel Ramos (1935, Sacramento - 2018, Oakland) was one of the most important representatives of American Pop Art , along with Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol , among others. Ramos' oeuvre is more strongly influenced by comic aesthetics than that of almost any other representative of Pop Art . The artistic exploration of pin-up girls is a distinctive feature of Mel Ramos. In a style all his own, the artist processed images and stereotypes from the advertising and show business of the time in an ironic-critical distance. For his portrayals, he often drew on well-known stars; his female figures bear the facial features of Michelle Pfeiffer or Claudia Schiffer, for example. With his pictures, in which Ramos depicts women in lascivious poses with oversized merchandise such as ketchup bottles or hamburgers, the artist refers to the triviality of the advertising machinery that works with eroticization and sexualization in order to market products with economic success. Works by Mel Ramos can be found internationally in renowned museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Hamburg Kunsthalle. "I make sure that my pictures (...) always have a trace of humor. Either you understand it or not." - Mel Ramos View works of Pop Art