Ramos, Mel

Ramos, Mel (b Sacramento, Calif., 24 July 1935).
American painter. Ramos is usually described as a Pop artist, but his smooth, impersonal handling (in oils and watercolour) brings him also within the orbit of Superrealism. He specializes in paintings of nude women of the calendar pin-up or ‘playmate’ type. Sometimes they are posed with oversized products such as pieces of cheese and sometimes they allude to the work of leading painters of the past (more rarely the present). The jokey quality of his work is reflected in his titles; two typical series are ‘You Get More Spaghetti with Giacometti’ and ‘You Get More Salami with Modigliani’.