Mel Ramos

50 Years of Pop Art

The Californian painter Mel Ramos is one of the most important representatives of the Pop Art movement. Along with other Pop artists, such as Andy Warhol or Roy Lichtenstein, he has been concentrating on many aspects of popular culture, the mass media and the advertising world. Starting off with comic heroes, Ramos devotes himself after this early period to the female nude, which has remained his main topic. In many famous artworks he provocatively lets sexy pinup girls nestle up against larger-than-life everyday consumer goods. This can be seen as a comment on the American way of business: “sex sells”. In other work series, he refers to significant works of the old masters, tributes to the nude in art history, and also devotes himself to the Californian landscape and popular culture.

This first European retrospective is organized on the occasion of Mel Ramos‘ 75th birthday in 2010 and brings together over 80 exhibits from 50 years of his creative work.

We would like to thank Strellson for its sponsorship.
Exhibition objects: 50 oil paintings, 30 drawings and watercolors as well as 4 sculptures
Exhibition space: variable from 500 – 700 sqm
Exhibition catalog: in 2 languages (German, English) in cooperation with Hatje Cantz

Exhibition venues 2010-2012:
Kunsthalle Tübingen, Germany, 23.01.-25.04.2010
Museum Villa Stuck, Germany, 24.06.-03.10.2010
Albertina, Vienna, Austria, 04.02.-29.05.2011
World Cultural Heritage Völklinger Hütte, Germany, 18.06.- 08.01.12

Visitors: 251 800

Mel Ramos, Hav-a-Havana #3, The Lost Painting of 1965 #12, 2000
© Mel Ramos

Mel Ramos, Blue Coat, 1966
© Mel Ramos