Mel Ramos – Batman, Robin and Batmobile

Description

Batman, Robin, and Batmobile, 1989 by Mel Ramos is a Serigraph print that is signed and numbered in pencil from the deluxe edition of 100. This print is published by Robert Bane Editions with a blindstamp lower left.

Text in lower right:

“ARTWORK (C) 1962 MEL RAMOS BATMAN, ROBIN AND BATMOBILE ARE TRADEMARKS OF D.C. COMICS INC (C) 1962”

Batman, Robin, and Batmobile Mel Ramos’s provocative, humorous paintings mix idealized nude women with the imagery of popular culture—Coca Cola bottles, movie posters, and the like. A prolific artist from his emergence in the 1960s onward, Ramos has often based his nudes on the female celebrities of the day, from Marilyn Monroe to Scarlett Johansson. His style references the sensuality and glossy flatness of pin-ups and Playboy spreads and has drawn the ire of feminists and art critics alike, despite Ramos’s assertion that his works are “apolitical”. Though clearly aligned with Pop Art in his appropriation of imagery from mass media and consumer products, Ramos calls his practice rooted in Surrealism and its emphasis on “absurd conjunctions”—in his case, a beautiful nude woman emerging from a Snickers wrapper or lounging seductively in a banana split.

Batman, Robin, and Batmobile Mel Ramos is an American Pop artist best known for his female nudes painted alongside brand logos. The artist’s coupling of women with familiar products like martini glasses and bananas serves as a commentary on the ways in which capitalism has employed the female body. “I make sure that my pictures are not too erotic and that they always have a trace of humor,” he said of his work. “I make sure they are ‘in good taste.’ Either you understand it or not.” Born on July 24, 1935 in Sacramento, CA, Ramos like Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, found inspiration through the comic books Wonder Woman and Superman growing up and later pinup posters. He went on to study art under Wayne Thiebaud at Sacramento State College where he earned both his BA and MA degrees. In 2011, Ramos was the subject of a major show at the Albertina in Vienna. His works are part of the collections at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, among others. He currently lives and works between Oakland, CA and Horta de San Juan, Spain.

Batman, Robin, and Batmobile