The Art of Ramiro Gomez

Writing about Lhakpa Sherpa earlier today got me thinking about the near-invisibility of certain workers in the United States. And that, in turn, got me thinking about L.A. artist Ramiro Gomez.

Ramiro Gomez, child of undocumented migrants and a former nanny, uses art to, as the Atlantic wrote, “put[] he lives of California’s near-invisible and individually disposable workers front and center.” He takes famous paintings and magazine advertisements, and he adds the workers who must behind the images.

Here is “Fred Segal Store, Los Angeles” by Ramiro Gomez (2016). It’s Acrylic on canvas, 72 x 72 inches.

If you’re in LA, you can see Ramiro’s On Melrose collection at the Charlie James Gallery (969 Chung King Road, Los Angeles 90012) through May 28.

Don’t live in LA? No worries. You can check out his work in the book Domestic Scenes: The Art of Ramiro Gomez. Put a pin in that one. It looks like quite the present idea for the immprof in your life.

-KitJ