Reception for the Artist Thursday, November 2, 5:30-8PM
As a young artist in the early 1960s, Mel Ramos made portraits of figures he particularly admired. He painted Batman and Wonder Woman and other comic book characters, rendering them on canvas with brushwork he’d learned by studying Old Masters. Concurrently with Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein—yet independently of both—Mel Ramos pioneered an entirely new vision of modern art popularly known as Pop.
More than half a century later, Ramos has returned to some of the subjects that made him famous, not only the superheroes he painted from 1961 to 1963 but also the pin-up-inspired nudes he began depicting in 1964. This November a broad selection of these new paintings goes on view at MODERNISM, together with chrome sculptures that show his female subjects cavorting with oversize golf balls and martini glasses.
Together these works constitute a mini-retrospective in which the artist revisits highlights of his career with the mastery gained from decades of practice. The exhibition also shows Ramos’ artistic prescience. Within the context of contemporary culture (and with midcentury characters such as Wonder Woman making Hollywood comebacks), his Pop vision seems more pertinent than ever.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CALL: 415/541-0461 OR EMAIL INFO@MODERNISMINC.COM
Check gallery website for hours and additional info
