Mel Ramos

At the beginning of the 1960s, Mel Ramos (born 1935) devoted himself to the central theme of his oeuvre, developing the visual vocabulary that has become so characteristic of his work: naked women adorning oversized advertisement images. Mixing idealized women with the imagery of pop culture--Chiquita bananas, coke bottles and comic books--his colorful, two-dimensional oil paintings act as formulations of an erotic fantasy that represents a fundamental pattern of marketing strategies in advertising. Humorous and provocative, Ramos' works blend sex and materialism, emulating the glossy flatness of a pin-up magazine.

At over 300 pages, and with over 500 color illustrations, Mel Ramos captures the artist's entire painterly oeuvre, from his first works in the '50s until today, demonstrating his enduring position in the West Coast Pop movement.