Mel Ramos
The Famous Four & The Superheroes: 1971 – 2018
Sep 11th – Oct 11th, 2018
LEVY Galerie is delighted to honor the Pop Art pioneer from the very start, Mel Ramos (*24. Juli 1935), with the exhibition The Famous Four & The Superheroes.
This solo show focuses on the drawings by the artist with the topic Superheroes honoring the admired comic heroes and heroines from his youthhood such as Blonde Phantom, Black Cat, Miss Fury, Human Fly and Atoman. Another highlight of the exhibition is the latest Cut Out Project of 2018 including the series of four cut outs A.C. Annie, Lola Cola, Della Monty und Tabacco Red based on the identically named legendary paintings by the artist of 1971. These Famous Four of 1971 have now been converted into screen and digital prints on plexiglass in a limited multiple edition by the artist. Belinda Grace Gardner highlights in the accompanying catalogue: “Ramos’s sun-bronzed pinup girls are posing here with oversized products and appendant logos, ranging from Coca-Cola and the cigarette brand Vantage up to AC spark plugs and Del Monte ketchup-a liaison between female eroticism and consumer items, which mutually comment and contradict each other in surreal hyperbole as projection surfaces of desire.” The original quartet of 1971 was acquired in the year of their creation by Gunter Sachs (*1932- †2011), the prominent photographer and documentary filmmaker, former jet-set playboy, prolific bobsledder, and ex-husband of Brigitte Bardot, and installed in his Hamburg domicile as he temporarily maintained a gallery in the formerly trendy neighborhood of Pöseldorf.