Jeff Ramirez: Ultimate Hotdog

Jeff Ramirez is an excellent photorealistic painter who studied painting at UCSC and currently lives and works in LA.  We're friends on facebook, and he's a cool dude.  He gave me advice when I was still freaking out about living as an artist.  This was back when I still thought I wanted to do art full time.  He doesn't even do art full time.  I think he splits his time between art and tech.

Anyway, his art has many motifs, but i've never seen any quite like his most recent painting.   It surfaced in my newsfeed this morning.  What is it?  It's a dystopian 90's nightmare--some kind of bowling alley rape fantasy straight out of Middle America.

"Celebration"
2014
16" x 20"

I still feel violated by it.   It's a kind of violence.  Elegant, but totally repulsive, and stuffed with allegory.  Allegory and hotdogs.

It might be a commentary on the sexual mores of White America.

It's genius.  I should buy it.   Maybe I'll tell him to make prints.