MEL RAMOS (Sacramento, 1935 - Oakland, 2018) Lot n° 16

GALATEA #10 2014 Oil on canvas Signed and dated on the back: Mel Ramos 2014 H. 101 x W. 77 cm Provenance Former collection Galerie Patrice Trigano, Paris Bibliography Mel Ramos - Catalogue raisonné of the paintings, 1953-2015, Berlin, Kerber Art, 2016, No. 14-7, reproduced in color p. 283 Artist's certificate dated January 18, 2016 Mel Ramos represents the moment when Galatea is no longer quite a statue and not yet entirely a woman. This painting belongs to a series begun in 2000, through which he questions the passage from thought form to perceived form, the transformation that takes place during the making of the work of art. It is a continuation of the series A Saluto to Art History which paid tribute to the French painters Boucher, David, Ingres, Manet... Here, Mel Ramos explicitly quotes Robert Le Lorrain's Galatea (fig. 1). He changes her into a Pin-Up and, in a game of self-mockery, assumes the role of Pygmalion who falls in love with his creation.