Date: 1992
Size: 27 x 54 inches
Artists: Roy Lichtenstein and Mel Ramos
About the Poster: In the 1960s, Pop Art emerged as a platform for popular and mass culture, drawing attention to the comic books, billboards, branding, advertisements, and celebrities. By emphasizing how the mainstream media had been seeping into the public's subconscious, Pop Art was able to comment on consumerism, capitalism, and mass production. Whether the artist applauded or criticized mass culture, the underlying similarity in most American Pop artworks is that the source material was always on full display, never hidden away or buried.
Roy Lichtenstein began producing Pop Art paintings based on the imagery of consumerism and popular culture in the early 1960s, and he is most often associated with paintings and prints based on comic strips. Mel Ramos is an American Pop artist best known for his female nudes painted alongside brand logos. Ramos’ pointed coupling of women with familiar products serves as a commentary on the ways in which modern culture has cast the female body as interchangeable with beauty and consumerism. Both artists were inspired by the graphic style of comic books, whose influence can be seen in their artwork.
The two artworks featured are Roy Lichtenstein's 1961 "Mr. Bellamy" (detail), and Mel Ramos's 1963 "Senorita Rio, The Queen of Spies" (detail)