Mel Ramos (1935-2018), American painter associated with Pop-Art. He was born in Sacramento (California). He studied at Sacramento State College, where one of his mentors was Wayne Thiebaud.
In the 1960s he became famous for his series in which he juxtaposed pin-up nudes with icons of consumption (Chiquita bananas, beverage cans, chocolate boards, cigarette packs).
He combined erotic imagery with the language of advertising, commenting on desire, marketing and mass culture.
He has exhibited widely in the US and Europe; his works are in numerous museum and gallery collections. For years he taught at California State University, East Bay (Hayward). He died in 2018 in Oakland.
Ramos remains one of the key figures in American Pop Art, alongside Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, with a distinct turn to figuration, photorealism and pin-up aesthetics.
